JAMES POTTER and the Road To No Promises
by AddiCullen
Summary: A hogwarts 2nd generation story. James Potter doesn't know how to handle the possibility of losing his best friend,Fiona. Lily starts her first year and surprises everyone in an unnerving way. Albus and Rose want to leave their mark...
1. A Familiar Face

**JAMES POTTER **

**and the Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 1. A Familiar Face_  
**

A sixteen year old boy sat in his own compartment on the Hogwarts Express, looking through the window. His green eyes scanned the crowd gathered on platform 9 ¾ . He was too preoccupied searching the faces to notice the compartment door slide open and light footsteps approach him until he felt a hand ruffle his messy black hair. He turned quickly. A girl of his same age stood with her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows. Fiona Finnegan and James Potter had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. Now, both sixteen years old and sixth years, James stood 5"8 with Fiona following by a head. James had his father's looks, right down to the shape of his nose, possibly the only difference was James's 20/20 vision. As far as his personality went, James was mischievous. He would play subtle pranks on professors and Slytherins but never got caught; he was almost unbearably sweet and unconsciously kind and protective. James often put others first without even thinking about it, and would fight to the death for his friends and family. He excelled at Potions, Defense Against The Dark Arts and Alchemy but struggled with Herbology and Charms. Predictably, he was a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

Fiona Finnegan was the daughter of Seamus and Marina Finnegan. She was not, however, an only child, not even close. Fiona Finnegan was the second oldest in a family of 5 kids. Her older sister, Nora, had left Hogwarts the year before. The other three siblings were very young. The twins, Kayleigh and Thomas, were only 6 years old and the baby, Alannah, was barely a year old. Fiona's hair was sandy brown and stick straight, pulled back into a French braid that snaked down her back. Her light brown eyes were full of laughter and framed by long black lashes. She was kind and laughed at every one of James's jokes but was still painfully honest about everything else. She was a Charms and Divination master, but could never get the hang of Alchemy or Potions, not that it ever concerned her. Fiona had a way of brushing things off. Her pointed chin jutted forward whenever she became stubborn (as she often did).

"Who are you looking for?" She asked James. He shrugged with a grin.

"Honestly, you." He replied, she smiled and sat down on the seat across from him.

"You look distracted." Fiona observed, watching her friend study his hands, "Where's Lily?" She asked, guessing the reason for his stress correctly. He smiled a little ruefully.

"She's with Albus."

"How's she doing?" Fiona put her chin in her hand thoughtfully.

"Fine." James laughed out loud, "I'm more nervous than she is. She just hopped on the train, as comfortable as could be."

"Maybe she's just confident."

"She can't be confident. First years are _never_ confident." James sighed in disgust, making Fiona giggle.

"Right." She agreed.

"JAMES!" Someone called urgently from the platform. James and Fiona rolled their eyes at each other before James pushed the window down and leaned out to the platform.

"Yeah, Mum?" He called. His mother and father were walking down the train, looking for their children.

"James," Ginny said in surprise, "Where are your brother and sister?"

"I wouldn't worry about them. Albus has Lily, and if I've ever seen someone born for Hogwarts, it's Lily." James informed them. Ginny narrowed her eyes but Harry smiled appreciatively.

"You take care of them." Ginny said sternly.

"Yes mum." James said sardonically, rolling his eyes again. Fiona coughed to hide a giggle, Harry rocked back on his heels with a grin. Ginny did not look especially happy.

"I mean it James!" She threatened. With a muttered goodbye James closed the window on her and sat back down. Ginny stared at him with wide eyes. Harry leaned around her to give Fiona a parting wave as the train started to move. Fiona waved back enthusiastically. And then the platform was lost from sight.

* * *

James started awake a couple of hours later, he'd fallen asleep with his face pressed against the window. Confused, he pried his skin off the glass and blinked a few times to take in his surroundings. Fiona was sitting across from him, wearing her Hogwarts robes, reading a book. James looked up at his own trunk, thinking that he should probably change, not sure how long he'd been asleep. He figured that Fiona would have woken him up eventually, leaving him with enough time to change. Although it was hard for him to say, it would have been really funny for him to show up to the feast in his muggle clothes. But, of course, Fiona would know that he would have to retaliate tenfold. He stood up and Fiona peered at him over the top of her book, eyebrows raised above her thin wire reading glasses.

"Where are we?" James asked, sitting next to her, half on her seat and half on the seat next to her. Fiona shrugged.

"It's been a couple hours but we still have a couple hours." She said.

"What are you reading?" James asked, taking the glasses from her face and setting them on his own.

"I don't know, I can't see it anymore." Fiona said, reaching for the glasses, but James leaned out of her reach and slipped the book out of her hands.

"Frighteningly pink." James commented, moving his hands to look at the cover, Fiona looked horrified as he moved back to the page where she was reading and his raised his eyebrows, "How romantic." He teased.

"James, give it back!" Fiona demanded sharply. James ignored her.

"And as he pulled her close to him he brushed his hand against her blushing cheek, feeling it warm to his touch…" He began reading aloud before Fiona leaned into him, trying to snatch the book back. They wrestled on the seat for a minute before Fiona finally grabbed the book and leaned back toward the window, holding it away from him at arm's reach. He was on his knees, leaning over her, reaching for the book. Fiona put her legs up quickly, her robe slipping off the part of her legs that weren't covered by her short skirt, and pressed her knees into James's chest to keep him from getting to the book. Neither of them heard the compartment door slide open at the very moment until they heard a familiar voice.

"What are you doing?" A young girl's voice asked. James and Fiona both froze, eyes sliding to look at the little redheaded girl that stood just inside the doorway. Their eyes slid back to each other and James slowly moved away, sitting on the next seat. Fiona swung her legs back around to set her feet on the floor and let the arm holding the book fall limply on the seat beside her. After a moment of watching the little girl with wide eyes James took off Fiona's glasses and handed them back to her, she accepted them silently, neither of them looking away from the door. Lily Potter stood there, watching her eldest brother and his friend curiously. Finally, Fiona cleared her throat.

"Lily! Where have you been? We haven't seen you since getting on the train, your mum was worried." She said with a smile. Lily came and sat down in the seat across from them.

"My mum is _always_ worried." The younger girl said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, I know." Fiona giggled.

"I've been with Albus and Rose, but they're with their friends and won't talk to me." Lily pouted, making Fiona laugh out loud.

"Why don't you go find some other first years to sit with?" James suggested.

"Because I don't know them!" Lily sounded horrified.

"And you never will if you don't go talk to them." Fiona said gently, that's how everyone makes friends at Hogwarts." Lily looked at her hopefully.

"And they won't mind?"

"Not a bit."

"You're sure?" Lily asked tentatively.

"I'm sure." Fiona said, moving to Lily's side and giving her a hug, "And if it's too hard or something you are _always_ welcome to come hang out with us, okay?"

"Okay." Lily agreed easily, hugging back.

* * *

After that it was a quiet ride to Hogwarts. Fiona buried herself behind her book while James dressed into his robes and stared out the window. Every now and then James's eyes would slide away from the window to look at his friend, whose entire face was hidden by the book. He assumed that she was a little embarrassed at being caught doing…well, he wasn't really sure _what_ they were doing…by his little sister. James continued to stare at the book blocking Fiona's face while thinking about it. Fiona lowered her book a little.

"What are you staring at?" She asked self-consciously. James laughed and shook his head, his friend Fiona's tone bringing him back to reality.

"Thanks for talking to Lily." James told her. Fiona shrugged, completely lowering her book.

"She'd figure it out eventually. Hogwarts is hard without friends and it's best to meet them early. It never even occurred to me not to talk to others on the train. And look how that turned out," She smiled at James warmly, "I found you in a nearly empty compartment."

"Yeah, we may not have even met if it wasn't that." James said. This wasn't entirely true, even though they didn't know for sure. To James, Fiona was a familiar childhood face. To Fiona, James had been a treat on a special occasion. Since their fathers were friends Fiona and James had often been thrown together whenever Fiona's family was in the country, the two had always been comfortable together even though those times where they were together were relatively scarce. But they were always something to look forward to. When Fiona found James on the train, she had truthfully nearly fainted with relief, even though she would never admit it.

* * *

Fiona led James off the train on onto the platform, stretching happily before turning to look in the castle's general direction.

"It feels so good to be back, doesn't it James?" She asked, latching onto his right arm and hanging there.

"It is." James replied, following her gaze before walking towards the carriages. On the way they passed small group of girls that surrounded a tall boy that was leaning against one of the station's pillars. When he looked up his mouth kind of turned up on one side, not exactly a smile but as close as he ever got. He disengaged himself from his group of admirers to walk next to Fiona.

"Fiona," He greeted with the same half-smile, "James."

"Hey, Landon!" Fiona said cheerfully, James nodding friendlily. Landon Longbottom was another familiar childhood face, to James if not to Fiona. Unfortunately, James and Landon had not grown very close over the long afternoons of sitting in the Potter's backyard and both were relatively relieved when the Longbottoms decided Landon was old enough to stay home and stopped dragging him to tea with the Potters. Landon was 16 years old and nearly 6 feet tall, he was slim with pale skin, neat dirty blond hair and large dark eyes. He could often be found leaning against walls and staircases in the castle, staring into the distance thoughtlessly (or so it seemed) with a group of girls standing around him, trying to demand his attention. The thing about Landon was that he was a typical bad boy. Even though he never did anything especially wrong or dangerous he seemed to have a need to rebel. Part of this was probably due to the fact that it was a way of defying his father, the herbology teacher, and sometimes it seemed he simply got bored and wanted to do something different. He'd stop working in the middle of class and stare around like everything he saw was boring him to death, as a result he didn't get very good grades. He sometimes became more lively when with Fiona and James but they didn't really consider him to be a 'friend' even though they liked being with him when he would hang out with them. Now his hands were dug into his pockets and he followed James and Fiona into a carriage.

"Hey Fiona, I heard you went to Spain this summer." Landon said offhandedly, though he watched Fiona's reaction carefully. However, she was busy looking at the window with a concerned expression on her face.

"Uh-huh." She answered distractedly. The Finnegans were world travelers and often went away during summer break. Landon sensed that she wouldn't be very accommodating so he changed what he was going to say.

"Maybe you can tell me about it sometime." James decided that if Landon was the sort of person to show his emotions he would probably look hopeful. James looked back and forth between Landon and Fiona curiously. Landon didn't usually _ask_ people to spend time with him, people usually _begged_ to be acknowledged by him. Fiona didn't seem to notice.

"Sure." She said, with an impersonal wave of her hand, as though pushing his request aside. She then turned to look at James with wide eyes. "What if Lily doesn't get in Gryffindor?" She said suddenly.

"The world won't end." He replied, laughing at her devastated expression.

"It'd break her sweet little heart." Fiona whispered, looking out the window again.

"She'll be fine." James assured her. She turned back to him.

"You're right." She said, laying her head down on his should with a sigh. James took one of her hands and looked up in time to see Landon look away. For a moment it looked like one of his facial muscles twitched before settling back into his Landon poker face. James looked away, as though pained. And in a few minutes he had forgotten the incident completely.

* * *

**I know this isn't awesome but I'm getting really into this so I'll try to update but _PLEASE PLEASE_ review! I want a lot of them, please! I just love them so much! :D**

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	2. The Hat's Change of Heart

**JAMES POTTER**

**And the Road To No Promises**

_**Chapter 2. The Hat's Change Of Heart**_

James sat down next to Fiona while Landon took the seat across from her. One of their year mates, a timid girl named Amelia Keen (known and Millie), sat next to Landon and Michelle Thomas sat on Fiona's other side. Millie's parents were both muggle paleontologists, they were busy most of the time and sent her to fancy boarding schools for most of her young life. They provided for her well but she always seemed a little lonely, getting short letters from them every couple of months and going to the dig on holidays though she always tried to spend as much time at school as possible. Millie's transfer to Hogwarts had been an odd one, since her parents were already disconnected from her Professor McGonagall and the Muggle Headmistress had sent them recommendation letters, suggesting a school transfer. Sometimes the other students would wonder what it would be like to have parents that didn't even know you had magic, but it never seemed to bother Millie, and she never had trouble keeping it from them. Millie stood a couple centimeters taller than Fiona, she had lightly tanned skin and her face was still sprinkled with freckles left over from her summer in the desert. She had her wavy blond hair cut to chin length and was usually held back by an extravagant headband. Her eyes were a soft gray, her face was pretty but plain, her eyebrows didn't curve and her eyelashes were nearly nonexistent, her cheekbones were high but it made her eyes look rather sunken in. Millie was shy and mostly kept to herself; somehow she couldn't seem to help drawing herself away from people. Though, for the last couple of years she found herself sitting closer and closer to Fiona and James; spending time with them in the common room, asking for homework help and providing some of her own. James and Fiona welcomed her with open arms, trying to ease the shy girl out of her shell had been a challenge of theirs since second year; when Millie had passed behind them while James was telling a funny story and giggled. They had both spun around to see Millie smiling at them, though she quickly walked away. The two friends decided that they liked her laugh and wanted to see her smile more often.

Michelle Thomas was the daughter of Fiona's father's best friend Dean Thomas. Her mother died when she was very small and her father tried very hard to raise her on his own, but he often found it hard and enlisted his old friend and his family for help. Michelle would stay over at the Finnegan's whenever her father went out of town or needed the house, or even if she needed to get away for a couple of days she would go straight to the Finnegan's where everyone knew she would be safe. As a result, the two grew up more like sisters than anything else, and they acted like it too. Most people would have a friend in that situation that they would never leave their side, but Fiona and Michelle seemed just too close for that. They moved around differently, talked differently, hung out with different people but at the same time the two girls were one. No one could describe it except that they were so comfortable together that they could get sick of each other, just like real sisters would. Fiona had once overheard her parents talking about Michelle. Her mother brought up the subject one day after sending them all to bed, Fiona had snuck back down for a snack but stopped outside the kitchen to listen. At the mention of Dean Thomas her father had set his face in his hands. Marina asked what caused the reaction and Seamus explained how hard it was for his friend to raise his daughter all alone, how hard it was to provide for her, how hard it was to relate to her. Often the Thomas house would go days without the two members of the family speaking to each other. This wasn't out of anger either, they just didn't have anything to say to each other. Nowadays Michelle was exactly as tall a Fiona, but more elegant. Michelle had soft, cocoa-colored skin and deep chocolate eyes that were set under wonderfully arched eyebrows and long dark lashes. Her nose was petite and her face was sharp, when she smiled she revealed perfectly straight white teeth, plump and shapely lips, even dimples. Her glossy black hair hung in ringlets around her shoulders and whenever she got bored she would twirl a few strands through her fingers, though this action often made it hard for any boys in the vicinity to concentrate. Michelle wasn't very vain, though she did know that other people thought her beautiful, and she enjoyed it. Michelle was able to hop from group of friends to group of friends. Everyone was glad to have her and she was glad to have so many people to be with. Fiona looked over at her and saw her wave at someone, turning her head Fiona saw a dark Ravenclaw boy return the gesture, Michelle smiled flirtatiously. Fiona leaned over and elbowed her.

"Who's that?" She asked curiously. Michelle giggled.

"That's Eddie Veskell. I wrote you about him, remember?" Michelle whispered.

"Ah." Fiona exhaled in comprehension, "Your new boyfriend." Michelle went through boyfriends faster than last year's sweaters (which Michelle wouldn't be caught _dead_ in).

"Isn't he cute?" Michelle asked enthusiastically. Fiona looked at Eddie again. Her first impression was that the word _cute_ couldn't even pretend to describe him. He was tall, dark and muscular, his dark hair needed a trim and flounced this way and that whenever he moved his head, though that only made him that much more attractive.

"I don't really think I'm a judge." Fiona said finally, but if she was she'd correct her friend. This boy wasn't cute, he was downright _hot_. And honestly, Michelle didn't seem to think anything of it. That was the only thing Michelle ever did that annoyed Fiona. Somehow, with very little effort on her part, Michelle would end up dating the hottest boys in the school. They'd date for a while, Michelle would keep her friends up to gush about them after hours, they'd send each other secret notes at meals and during class, Michelle would sit on the edge of Fiona's bed and describe his kisses in gory but somehow fascinating (to Fiona, anyway) detail. Then, something would happen to make them break up. If it was on Michelle's end life would just go back to normal. They'd walk the school with high heads and thoroughly ignore each other. If Michelle was on the receiving end all hell would break loose. She's stay up for days, crying and making Fiona (because no one else could be near her at this point) listen to her sobbed stories of how perfect he was, then what she had imagined the future would have been like. Fiona always tried to be sympathetic but sometimes she couldn't bring herself to it, in her opinion if you were lucky enough to get a boyfriend in the first place your life would be complete. But that wasn't how Michelle thought. Michelle would even hop out of corridors and into empty classrooms to avoid her new ex, usually dragging Fiona along with her. Then, suddenly, after about a week it would stop. Everything would go back to normal and Michelle was mooning over a new guy.

"There they are!" James said suddenly. Fiona had somehow missed Professor McGonagall's opener and was called back to the present when the door swung open and the first years trailed in. They spotted Lily first, her fiery red hair standing out in the crowd. She was linked arms with a very sullen looking girl that watched the hall through emotionless, darkly colorless eyes.

"Who's that?" James asked in a strained voice at the same time Fiona thought it.

"She looks like she drowned." Michelle whispered in awe. She was right. The girl's skin was so icily white that it seemed to have a blue tinge to it, there were shadows under her eyes and her face was thin. Her hair was black that had an oddly gray tone to it, as though the darkness had been sucked out of it, and it hung lifelessly to her waist.

"How creepy." Fiona said with a shudder.

"She's so small." Millie said unexpectedly, her tone almost unbearably soft and caring. They all leaned forward to see better. True, the girl that Lily was holding on to was about a head shorter than all the other first years, the top of her head came up to Lily's chin. Lily looked around the hall and saw Albus and Rose first. She waved at them enthusiastically, they waved back but were obviously scrutinizing her new friend as much as the others were. Lily saw Fiona next, then automatically looked next to her to lock eyes with James. She waved; James returned it halfheartedly, causing Lily to send Fiona a perplexed look and Fiona to return it. The hat was placed on the stool and the hall went silent, everyone watching the hat anxiously. The seam at the bottom opened and the hat began to sing;

"_Seconds hours so many days  
You know what you want but how long can you wait  
Every moment last forever if you feel you've lost your way  
What if your chances are already gone  
Started believing that I could be wrong  
But you give me one good reason __to fight and never walk away_

_Every step you climb another mountain  
Every breathe its harder to believe_

_You'll make it through the pain _

_or through all your aches and pains  
Weather the hurricane  
To get to that one thing_

_When you think the road is going nowhere  
Just when you've almost gave up on your dreams  
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can  
There are no boundaries _

_I fought to the end to stand on the edge  
What if today is as good it gets  
Don't know where the future's headed  
Nothing will bring me down_

_I've jumped every bridge and I've run every line  
I've risked being saved but I always knew why  
I always knew why_

_So here I am still holding on  
Every step you climb another mountain  
Every breathe its harder to believe_

_You'll make it through the pain  
Weather the hurricane  
To get to that one thing_

_When you think the road is going nowhere  
Just when you've almost gave up on your dreams  
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can_

_You can go higher  
You can go deeper  
There are no boundaries  
Above and beneath you  
Break every rule, there's nothing between you  
and your dreams  
Every step you climb another mountain  
Every breathe its harder to believe  
You'll make it through the pain  
Weather the hurricane  
There are no boundaries"_

The hat went silent, leaving the students looking at each other in confusion for a few moments before the applause started. The Deputy Head Master, Professor Alvie the potions master, stepped forward and started calling off first year's names. When the first student ("Acer, Mary") took a seat on the stool Rose Weasley and Albus Potter turned to look at each other.

"That was weird." Rose commented slowly, looking over her friend's face, searching for his reaction. Albus pursed his lips.

"Yes, I mean, it usually talks about the houses and what they mean, doesn't it?" Albus analyzed. Rose smiled and rested her chin on her hand, eyes focused on Albus, watching him over think things was her favorite pastime. At the age of 14 Albus was intelligent, but he had tendencies to think ideas to death. It was strange because of the person that he seemed to be joined at the hip with. Rose Weasley was a person of action, where Albus would think an idea or plan over in his head for days on end. Rose would listen to his first few debates with himself then start working for it. If Albus thought of the idea of making a study schedule Rose would listen to the first few arguments he had with himself then disappear and draw one up. Sometimes Albus was frustrated that she didn't plan or think things through enough, but it never lasted long because she always did it better on impulse than he could with years of planning. Rose Weasley and Albus Potter had a strange relationship because anyone could see the two were polar opposites. Rose liked being a Quidditch Keeper, eating without thinking about it, making ideas come to life, having adventures and setting goals. Whereas Albus would rather read, research anything he'd even consider eating, sitting completely still for hours on end with only his thoughts, never taking risks or stepping outside his comfort zone and go as far as you can before hitting the ceiling. Their arguments were always something to be seen because no matter how passionate they were on the subject the debate would be friendly, each making valid points without their temper clouding their thoughts. Oddly enough, never could you find one without the other. They did absolutely everything together, Albus would watch her play Quidditch and Rose would watch him think and read with him. They moved the same way without talking about it and even finished each other's sentences from time to time.

"Maybe the hat thought this would be more useful." Rose suggested. Albus smiled.

"I bet that's it."

"I'm hungry." James complained, no one could respond because suddenly Fiona's eyes widened and she slammed her hands on the table.

"It's her." She whispered, watching the front stool. Landon, Millie and Michelle followed her gaze, but James didn't take his eyes away from Fiona.

"No it isn't. Lily got sorted, remember? That's her down at the end of our table." He said. Fiona rolled her eyes at him.

"Not _her_. _Her_." She pointed to the front where only one first year stood.

"Zellit, Ella." Professor Alvie called. It was Lily's little drowned friend.

"Ella is such a pretty name." Millie said, watching the depressing girl put the hat on her head.

"I don't know." Landon said slowly, poker face still in place, "I think it fits. She's pretty spooky, you know?"

No one said anything because they _did_ know.

* * *

**Wow, so much character description. Sorry guys! There will be more plot/coolness and stuff when I'm done giving you a taste of who the characters are. THE LYRICS TO THAT HAT'S RHYME are from the song "No Boundaries" written by Kara Dioguardi, I just removed a couple words to keep the hat from sounding like a popstar.  
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**You know the the drill XD**

**REVIEW!**

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	3. The Friendship Loophole

**JAMES POTTER**

**And the Road to No Promises**

_**Chapter 3. The Friendship Loophole**_

James, Fiona, Albus and Rose were all sitting by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room when the first years were led in by the Gryffindor prefects, Felicia Massengil and E.G Jordan. Lily practically danced across the room to stand in front of the fireplace, dragging Ella along with her.

"I did it!" She squealed as soon as she had all their attention, "I'm a Gryffindor." Because she obviously wanted a big reaction they started clapping. James let out an earsplitting whistle and Albus yelled;

"Yeah Lily!"

"Stop it!" Lily said urgently, though she couldn't stop giggling, "You're embarrassing me!" That got everyone laughing.

"Honey, if you don't want to be embarrassed you shouldn't be happy about being in the same house as us." Fiona said. Lily giggled appreciatively.

"Alright. But look!" She dragged the smaller girl forward a bit, "Ella made it too!" The others exchanged glances, not sure what to say. Lily looked at them all expectantly and a little confused. Then she slapped the heel of her hand to her forehead. "Oh! I forgot to introduce you!" Albus and James relaxed in their seats, happy to have an excuse not to react; Fiona and Rose only exchanged glances, knowing they had only been delayed. "Everyone, this is Ella, she's my new Hogwarts best friend forever. Ella, these are my brothers; James and Albus. And these are our very close family friends; Fiona and Rose. I'll introduce you to Rose's brother, Hugo, later but he's in Ravenclaw with the Lovegoods. Oh, but you don't know them either! Ambrose and Andrea are close family friends too, their parents let them pick the last name they wanted, isn't that cool?" Ella watched her prattle on with lifeless eyes. The Lovegoods were a very odd family. Their mother, Luna Lovegood was a magazine editor and her on-again off-again fiancé, Jerry Appleton, was an investigative reporter for the _Daily Prophet_. That household was home for very strange ideas. One of which was when the twins were five they got to pick if they wanted to be Lovegoods or Appletons. They chose Lovegoods. Normally twins are different as night and day, but Ambrose and Andrea were very similar. They looked almost exactly the same with short, curly blond hair and misty gray eyes, pale skin and freckles. They both had a birthmark on the outside of their right eyebrows. They were both a little dazed, unrealistic and easily distracted. The two were so similar that they had a lot of the same friends but couldn't hang out with each other for very long so their friends often had to split their time between the two. At first when the twins suggested it their friends were hesitant, feeling it might be awkward, but the twins never minded and eventually their friends stopped caring too.

"Hey, Lily." Rose said quietly when Lily stopped for a breath, "Ella looks tired; perhaps it's time for bed?"

"What do you think?" Lily asked Ella eagerly, she may well have asked the wall if it was ready for bed, she didn't get a response. Lily shrugged, "Okay, let's go."

"Actually," Fiona interjected, "You should stay for a minute, Lily. We've got a couple things we need to talk to you about.

"What is this, an intervention?" James muttered under his breath, Fiona sucker punched him in the arm. He flinched at first, then tried to brush it off and ignore it by showing no signs of pain, but Fiona saw the plot for revenge form behind his eyes. Lily let Ella walk up to the dormitory and turned to the others.

"What?" She asked.

"It's Ella." Albus blurted out, Lily's eyes widened and Rose slapped herself in the forehead.

"The one time you don't over think something you blurt out the worst things." She muttered, Albus turned to her and grinned.

"That's why I think things through, miss 'you have to be spontaneous'." He pointed out.

"I stand corrected." Rose sighed in defeat.

"What do you mean? What's Ella?" Lily asked suspiciously, returning to the subject matter.

"Sweetie, don't take this the wrong way but how did you meet her?" Fiona asked delicately.

"I did it like you told me to. She was the only other first year sitting alone, so I went in and talked to her."

"That isn't exactly what I meant…" Fiona started uncomfortably but cut herself off when Lily cocked her head to the side.

"But…of course it is." Lily said confidently, Fiona sighed and leaned back farther into the couch.

"What's she like?" Rose asked. Lily looked startled.

"She er…she's really shy. She was really glad that someone came and talked to her. And I think she's nervous about everything. But then again, who isn't?" Lily looked at them, the oddest expression on her face.

"So…she talked to you?" Albus asked, a little confused. Lily ducked her head and scuffed her foot; a show of embarrassment.

"Well…not exactly…" She mumbled.

"Pardon?" James asked.

"Well, I asked her if she wanted me to leave and she didn't say anything. And when I asked her to be my friend I told her that she just needed to say no for me to leave and she didn't say anything."

"Wow." James whispered, leaning close to Fiona and whispering to her, "A friendship loophole."

"All friendships are based on loopholes." She whispered back.

"Even ours?"  
"Especially ours." Fiona turned back to Lily, but James continued to stare at her. He wondered just what loophole was found in their friendship, he couldn't even remember that far back.

"Just give her a chance." Lily was pleading when James's mind returned to the conversation.

"Now, we never said we wouldn't. You can be friends with her if you want, who are we to judge?" Fiona said.

"Yeah, look at who we ended up with." Rose pointed out. Albus, Rose, James and Fiona all looked back and forth between each other for a moment before turning back to Lily, who suddenly looked convinced.

"You're right. Don't worry about it. I'm going to bed." And she was up the stairs before the others had time to react.

"Ouch." Fiona said with mild surprise, "That kind of stung."

It was the first day of class and Fiona was already failing Alchemy. She was pleased to find that both Millie and Landon were in her class, but Landon was typically surrounded and Millie didn't offer more conversation after "Hi". Fiona slumped into the seat next to her, she took out her book and set it on her desk before propping both her elbows on it and holding her chin up with the heels of her hands.

"I had a rough night." She informed Millie dully.

"Oh?" Millie responded, sounding rightfully concerned but unreasonably nervous. Fiona nodded.

"I couldn't sleep. I don't even know what it was it was just…my brain didn't want to turn off or something."

"Hm." And Fiona couldn't get anything more out of her companion. The lecture started and Fiona stared at the front of the room with drooping eyes. Why couldn't she sleep? Maybe she should have gone to bed sooner, or not slept in so long the morning before. The next thing she knew Fiona was being poked in the side with something sharp. With a squeak she jolted awake, her elbows slipping off the desk, and she tumbled to the floor. "Ow." She said to no one in particular. Then she saw a pair of shoes. Nervously, she looked up to see Professor Hotchkiss looking down at her over his thick spectacles.

"Are you okay?" He asked concernedly. Fiona smiled and stood, she liked Professor Hotchkiss, though not his career choice. Professor Hotchkiss was a lot younger than the other Professors; he was in his late twenties and had only been teaching for a couple of years. Students loved him, even those who (like Fiona) hated Alchemy, this Professor would always be a treat to talk to during passing time.

"I'm fine." Fiona said quickly, trying to cover up the fact she just fell asleep in front of her favorite professor, "I think I just got light-headed or something."

"Perhaps you should go see Madame Pomfry." Professor Hotchkiss suggested kindly.

"That's really not necessary." Fiona assured him, feeling her cheeks begin to redden.

"Who will take Miss Finnegan here to the Hospital Wing?" He asked the room at large. Everyone had been quietly chatting to each other and looked up in incomprehension when Professor Hotchkiss called them to attention. All, that is, expect for two. Millie buried her face behind her book, not wanting to be called on and put in the spotlight; and Landon kept a level gaze on Fiona, his face expressionless. Professor Hotchkiss looked around for a face that wasn't confused, and his eyes landed on Landon. "Mr. Longbottom?" He suggested. Landon had been slouching back in his chair, hands dug into his pockets, he shrugged. "Very good." Landon stood and walked to the door, pausing while the red faced Fiona scurried to catch up with him. As soon as they were in the hall, Fiona drew in a ragged breath. Landon cut his eyes to her and raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch.

"I wish he wouldn't make such a fuss." She explained, "Thanks for coming with me, though." Landon shrugged again.

"Anything to get out of that class." He said.

"Oh, I know! I don't even know why I still take it!" Fiona exclaimed, unintentionally slowing her pace as she did when walking and talking. Landon matched her, turning his head completely so he could look at her.

"So you don't like it, or you're bad at it?" He asked.

"Both! See, James loves it, plus he's really good at it. He's even taking some kind of advanced Alchemy class this year instead of ours, can you believe that? That's nice for him and everything but I really don't understand it. I guess I kind of let him talk me into taking it." Fiona admitted.

"Do you always do what James tells you?" Landon asked. Fiona stopped and peered up into his expressionless face, trying to decide whether to be offended or not. On the one hand Landon was her friend, she liked him, and the question was innocent enough. On the other hand the way he said it, the way he had shoved his hands back in his pockets and looked away with a momentary smirk made her think he didn't think it was as innocent as she did. And on another hand maybe he just didn't think it was cool of her to take orders from anybody. After all, he never did. Maybe he just wanted her to be a little defiant. Thinking to herself, just standing with Landon in an empty corridor, Fiona thought that saying it wouldn't be too horrible if he wanted to hear it so bad.

"Earth to Fiona." Landon said slowly after about a minute. Fiona blinked a few times.

"I…sorry…just…I mean…no." She stuttered.

"Come again?" Landon asked.

"I don't do everything James tells me to." Fiona said, dropping her gaze and beginning to walk again.

"Of course you don't." Landon muttered under his breath.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Fiona snapped, looking carefully ahead of her.

"It means you're lying." Landon said simply.

"I am not." Fiona gasped, "I really don't! I…" She tried to think of the last time she didn't agree to anything James told her. She couldn't think of anything. Her legs seemed to freeze in place and she stopped walking again, eyes narrowing and darting around. Landon smirked again, she wasn't looking directly at him when he did, but it wasn't a happy expression, or smug. Now that she thought about it…she wasn't looking at him a few minutes ago either, it was the same sad smirk. Or maybe it was disgust. Fiona really didn't want to know the distinction.

"That's what I thought." Landon said, continuing to walk. It took Fiona a few second before she caught up with him, knowing that he wouldn't wait for her.

"Why does it matter?" She asked.

"Just does." Landon said with yet another shrug.

"That," Fiona said coldly, "Is a horrible answer."

"It's all I got." Landon replied, stopping at the doors to the hospital wing.

"I guess you can go back to class now." Fiona suggested. Landon raised his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't have come if I considered going back to class." He said. Fiona felt her face going red again. Of course he wouldn't go back to class, teachers were lucky enough if he showed up in the first place, little lone coming back from a bathroom break or escorting someone to the Hospital Wing. _Come one Fiona!_ She shouted internally, _Stop blushing! Stop blushing in front of Landon! I mean…I don't care because it's just Landon. I mean…_

"I have to…" She muttered, inching toward the doors. Landon had been studying her steadily growing blush and caught her shoulder before she could disappear into the hospital wing. He didn't say anything, but he met her eyes and one side of his mouth pulled into his half smile. When Fiona entered the Wing she was brighter than a beet, but she already felt better. "There's the loophole." She whispered to herself ruefully.

* * *

**I know I know. The next chapter won't have those big useless personal information blocks, kay? It's weird because this is the story I get least support for but I can't stop writing it!**

**~REVIEW PLEASE~  
**


	4. The Rebel

**JAMES POTTER **

**And the Road to No Promises **

_**Chapter 4. The Rebel**_

The first thing James noticed about Fiona when he walked into the great hall for lunch was that she looked pretty frantic. Her hands were shaking so that she could barely hold her fork and her eyes darted around. But when he got closer she didn't seem to notice him, so he assumed that she wasn't actually taking in her surroundings. He sat down across from her. Fiona's eyes snapped to him for a moment, then they couldn't seem to rest and continued to move around.

"What's up with you?" James asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night." Fiona said, finally giving up on her fork and picking up her goblet. As she tried to raise the goblet to her lips her traitorous hands gave a particularly violent shake and caused her to slosh pumpkin juice down her front.

"And?" James asked, watching his irritated friend try to clean her front off with her napkin.

"_And_ I was so tired this morning that I fell asleep during Alchemy." Fiona replied grumpily.

"I fail to see the connection." James noted patiently.

"Professor Hotchkiss sent me to the infirmary."

"So what'd they give you?" James said, trying to get the point out. Fiona's eyes darted to his.

"Coffee."

"You're kidding me."

"I kid you not. They said that all I needed was some caffeine and I'd feel better. But even though she said it was a muggle cure she said that I should still take it because she felt it would help me and then she told me that I should get some more sleep next time but right now I feel like I could never sleep again and I can't eat because I can't even pick up my fork and look I spilled pumpkin juice all over myself and it isn't even my fault because I don't even know why I couldn't sleep!"

"You wanna run that by me again? Only slower?" James asked cautiously. Fiona's last explanation had taken less than five seconds to say, her sentences all slurring together. The words came out so fast that they almost jumbled together and she hadn't appeared to breathe the whole time. Fiona just sighed in disgust, picking up her fork again.

"If you won't listen, I'm not going to tell you." She said. For a moment James thought she was joking, but after a moment of watching her picking at her food and looking away in disdain he rolled his eyes. Fiona narrowed her eyes in response.

"You know what?" She snapped suddenly, throwing down her fork, "I give up. It isn't worth it!" She grabbed her bag and started to stomp out of the hall. After a few steps she stopped, stomped back to the table and leaned across it to look at James. "And you know what else? I really, really, _hate_ Alchemy!" And with that she wheeled around and marched out of the hall, leaving James to stare after her with wide eyes.

"What the bloody hell…?" He muttered to himself just as Millie took Fiona's empty seat.

"What?" She asked, eyes wide with apprehension. James looked up in surprise.

"Oh, no not you. Fiona." He explained. Millie relaxed.

"Oh. What about her?" She asked, filling her plate.

"I don't know. She's all drugged on caffeine because Madame Pomfry gave her coffee after she fell asleep in Alchemy. Hey, don't you have that class with her?" He asked suddenly, squinting at Millie. Millie was caught while biting into her sandwich; she froze like a deer in headlights. Slowly, she lowered her food before answering.

"Yes."

"Huh." He looked at her, not sure what reaction she was expecting, "Well, now she's hyperactive and shaking and I don't even know what. She started talking so fast I swear she nearly swallowed her tongue and suddenly she just got up and stormed off."

"Didn't she say anything before leaving?" Millie asked tenderly.

"Well…" James thought for a moment, "Not really, but before she let the room she mentioned something about hating Alchemy."

"Maybe she just wanted you to know." Millie suggested.

"But she doesn't hate Alchemy. I mean, I know it isn't her favorite and she struggles with it a bit but she's okay with it. She's never really hated it." He said, resting his chin in his hand. He didn't notice that Millie had her Deer-in-headlights look again.

"But…" She said softly, "She really does hate Alchemy. She's horrible at it."

"No, I help her and she gets it." James pressed, snapping her eyes to her, knowing that she'd back down with the eye contact. It would have worked but she wasn't looking at him, her eyes were locked on her hands, which were shredding a napkin in her lap.

"She _seems_ to hate it then. She always has this pained look in class. And besides," She added matter-of-factly, "That's what she told Landon." James's brain stopped.

"She told who?" He asked stupidly.

"Landon." Millie repeated, still avoiding his gaze.

"Landon _Longbottom?_" He asked.

"Yeah."

"When?"  
"Well…when she passed out Professor Hotchkiss sent her with Landon to go to the Hospital Wing."

"Landon _Longbottom?"_ He repeated incredulously. Millie just nodded, her eyebrows scooting together a bit as she scrutinized the boy across from her.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Why would she tell Landon that?" James said more to himself than to Millie, "I mean, she never told me she hated it before. She always just went with it, plus she's still taking it. And she wouldn't do that if she didn't want to, not Fiona. And I would always help her with her homework, she seemed okay with it." Millie watched James turn this over in his mind for a while, eating her food but never letting her eyes leave his face. Finally, he looked up at her expectantly. She froze again; it looked like James wanted her to reply to an argument that had just revealed itself. Slowly, she bit her lip and considered what he'd want to know about the situation and what reply would make him feel better.

"Maybe she just didn't want to tell you." Millie suggested. James brushed that off; obviously it wasn't the answer he had been looking for.

"Fiona always tells me things she doesn't like. I know her better than anyone except Michelle. Why wouldn't she tell me she hates in then?" James looked at her expectantly again, waiting for the perfect answer. For a moment Millie considered telling James to go ask _Michelle _what was going on if she knew Fiona so well. But Millie didn't even know why James was so offended. Really, so Fiona doesn't like Alchemy, so what? Finally, Millie just shrugged.

"Maybe she was just hyped up on coffee."

"Yeah." James muttered, "Yeah, you're probably right." He lapsed into thought again. After that Millie ate as quickly as she could and evacuated the area, muttering something about going to the library for a homework assignment, but James hardly heard her.

No sooner had Millie left than Rose Weasely strolled in and took Millie's empty seat.

"Watch it James, you look like Albus." She teased. James glanced up at her, not amused. Rose frowned, "Okay, then. Never mind. What's up?" She asked.

"Fiona told Landon she hates Alchemy." James told her thoughtfully.

"So?" Rose cocked her head to the side, "Not like it's a secret or anything, right?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, everyone knows she hates Alchemy. She stays up all night doing that homework and studying for it, and she doesn't even like it! Isn't that sad?"

"How come _I_ never knew about any of this?" James asked, feeling offended.

"You didn't?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows, "Well, I guess everyone thought it was a given. The way she talks about it, how long it takes her to do it. I guess everyone just figured that if you didn't know, you weren't worth being told."

"Not worth being told?" James repeated angrily. Rose held up her hands in surrender.

"Just saying. Why are you so worked up over this? It's just a class." She asked. James pushed his food around on his plate. "Oh come _on _James! It's just me! You can tell me anything." He looked up at her and mumbled something. "Come again?"

"I didn't know she hated Alchemy." He said softly.

"Really?" Rose asked incredulously, but James sent her a glare that made her backtrack, "I mean…and?"

"And _what_ Rose? We're best friends, aren't we? She didn't even tell me what she doesn't like! Sure, she'll tell Landon Longbottom, but will she tell her best friend?" He ranted.

"Landon?" Rose asked in confusion. James ignored her.

"I guess I just wish she told me or something…" Actually, James wasn't really sure what he wished. He kind of wish she'd been honest with him, kind of wished she hadn't told Landon instead, kind of wished he could talk to her now but also wished he wouldn't. Mostly he just wondered, maybe everyone was right. He sighed as he stood for his next class. Maybe it just never occurred to her to tell him.

* * *

The next day Fiona still wasn't paying attention to her Alchemy class. She was staring at the front of the class with the lights on but nobody home. Every now and then she'd glance across the room at Landon, who was scribbling in his notebook. She looked at Professor Hotchkiss's lecture notes on the board, then down at her text book. For a moment she examined the charts and vocabulary, she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Just being near it made her want to rip her hair out, as it was her brain felt like it was working through slush while looking at it…and if she did for one more moment her whole head would explode.

"I can't do it." She muttered under her breath. Millie looked up from her book.

"Hm?" She asked. Fiona didn't answer; she dumped her books into her bag, slung it over her shoulder and stood.

"Miss Finnegan?" Professor Hotchkiss asked, everyone's eyes cut to Fiona. She took a deep breath and swallowed before starting to back away from her desk and the wide-eyed Millie.

"I just…can't." She said softly, already nearly at the door. She leaned against it and looked around the classroom. "Professor, I really _don't_ want to take Alchemy." She turned and was out the door in a flash. A few minutes later Landon found her sitting in the corridor outside the Gryiffindor common room all by herself, class hadn't yet ended. She looked up when she heard his approach and grimaced. "What?" She demanded. Landon sat next to her with a breezy smile.

"Professor Hotchkiss sent me to check on you." He said, Fiona buried her face in her hands.

"I just walked out of his class! He should be mad at me! He was always so nice." She said in a muffled voice, "I feel so guilty."

"Don't feel guilty." Landon said firmly. Fiona took her head from her hands and looked at him curiously.

"That was bloody brilliant back there. Don't mind me saying but I never thought _you_ would walk out on class. Little lone away from a Professor you liked, those are so rare, and a class that James wanted you to take."

"He shouldn't have." Fiona muttered, "Or I shouldn't have let him talk me into it. I mean, how hard could it be? No, James, I don't want to take that stupid class."

"C'mon, for me?" Landon asked, doing a perfect imitation of James and batting his eyelashes. Fiona giggled.

"Shut up." She scolded teasingly, "He doesn't flutter his lids like that." Landon raised his eyebrows and Fiona giggled some more. Landon stood, on his way to wander aimlessly around school until lunch.

"Anyway, that was cool. I didn't believe you yesterday, but I guess you're right." He said.

"Right about what?" Fiona asked.

"I guess you _don't_ do everything James tells you to." He said. He turned his back and walked away before seeing the smile that momentarily sneaked its way onto Fiona's face. She turned her head back the other way and froze. A pair of wide, dark gray eyes were staring at her through a crack in the opening of the portrait of the Fat Lady. Fiona gasped and the painting snapped shut, hiding the small face she had seen.

"Ella?" Fiona asked the empty corridor in confusion. She stared at the picture for several minutes, but it never cracked again. She must have imagined it. Besides, Ella's eyes were lighter than those…maybe…she thought about it, she had no idea. "Maybe I'll ask her later." She said to herself, standing for her next class, "Or maybe not."

* * *

**REVIEW PLEASE! I'm too lazy to draw the arrow right now.  
**


	5. It's A Secret

**JAMES POTTER**

**And the Road To No Promises**

_**Chapter 5. It's A Secret**_

* * *

Fiona tapped her foot nervously at lunch, looking around nervously for the one person she didn't want to see. That one person was her best friend, James Potter. She really didn't want to tell James about her Alchemy outburst but he'd undoubtedly hear about it anyway. As she was going over her options, Fiona looked up as Michelle slid into the seat across from her.

"Hey Michelle, you didn't hear did you?" She asked apprehensively, Michelle frowned.

"Hear what?"

"About me in Alchemy."

"Oh…well…Landon might have mentioned it." Michelle said, a bit guiltily.

"What are the chances that he didn't tell anyone else?" Fiona asked worriedly. Michelle gave her an odd look.

"Well…pretty good but I can't speak for the rest of the class."

"Did you tell anyone?" Fiona pressed, looking more horrified with each passing moment.

"Nah. Why?"

"I really don't want James to find out." Fiona whispered, Michelle leaned closer curiously.

"Why not?" She asked.

"James really likes Alchemy, you know. And it just seemed important to him that I took it too, so that he could help me with the homework and we could study together and…" Fiona took a deep breath, "I never really noticed that we don't have a lot in common so I just wanted to do something that we could do together."

"So you're just going to pretend you're still taking it?" Michelle asked.

"That's my plan, but I'm not sure if it's already all over the school that I walked out."

"I doubt it…" Michelle started, "Millie!" She said loudly as she saw her pass behind Fiona. Millie jumped, clutching her book to her chest.

"Yes?" She said after recovering. Michelle gestured to the seat next to Fiona and Millie sat there, looking at Michelle with curious eyes.

"Did you tell anyone about Fiona's little outburst?" She asked. Millie shook her head.

"What about everyone else in the class?" Fiona asked anxiously.

"They didn't really know what happened," Millie replied with a shrug, "Mostly they didn't really care, it's not a very interesting story to tell. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Don't tell anyone." Fiona begged. Millie hadn't even considered telling anyone, but Fiona's anxiety made her curious.

"Why not?"

"So she can bond with James." Michelle answered shrewdly. Fiona glared at her.

"I just don't want to upset him. He'll be happier thinking I'm still taking it."

"But…" Millie hesitated, "If he's your best friend, he should know, right? I mean…he seemed pretty upset yesterday."

"Why?" Fiona demanded sharply, making Millie wince, "What happened yesterday?"

"He just seemed offended because you didn't tell him outright that you didn't Alchemy." Millie said. Fiona looked torn. Millie and Michelle exchanged glances.

"What's up?" Michelle asked Fiona.

"I don't know…I feel kind of weird." She said detachedly, "I tried really hard to make it seem like I enjoyed Alchemy. I pretended that I was okay with it for a really long time and I feel like I did a good job with it but…" She trailed off, Michelle and Millie watched her expectantly.

"But…?" Michelle urged when Fiona didn't continue. Fiona cut her eyes to her friends, looking a little hysterical.

"But he's my best friend! Six years he's been thinking that I liked it and thinking that he knew everything about me. We both thought he did but how could he _really_ not know?" She bit her lip and looked away.

"Ouch." Michelle muttered sympathetically.

"You know what I think?" Millie asked, volunteering an opinion for the first time in living memory.

"What?"

"I think that he's a guy, and guys aren't usually very observant." She said.

"That makes sense…" Fiona said, looking hopeful, "Yeah. Maybe I should just stop expecting him to know everything. If you want a boy to understand something you tell them." Millie and Michelle nodded enthusiastically, thankful that Fiona's outlook changed. "Please, I'd still rather no one told James." Fiona said quickly.

"No problem." Michelle said at once while Millie nodded. Fiona stood.

"Oh, and if you see Landon, tell him to keep it to himself." She said, the others agreed quickly. When Fiona turned to leave, she nearly ran into James. "Sorry." She said cheerfully, grinning.

"Sorry." He muttered in reply, looking at her oddly, "Where are you rushing off to?" He asked.

"I've got to go talk to someone. You're getting here late, aren't you?" She asked. James shrugged.

"Professor Manuso let us out late." He said offhandedly, squinting at Fiona.

"Well I've got to go, I'll see you later?" She asked. James nodded, Fiona gave him a quick peck on the cheek before rushing off. James looked after her.

"What's she so happy about?" James asked. Millie and Michelle shrugged and changed the subject.

* * *

Lily was lounging on the couch by the fireplace when Fiona returned to the common room. Ella was curled up in front of the couch, her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes watching the fire expressionlessly. Feeling giddy, Fiona crept up behind them and reached over the top of the couch to tickle Lily's stomach.

"Fiona!" Lily shrilled while she tried to get her giggling self out of Fiona's reach. Laughing, Fiona pulled back and let Lily sit up.

"Hey Lily, I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Fiona asked, smiling an alluring smile.

"Anything!" Lily agreed eagerly. Fiona pulled a folder out of her bag and handed it to Lily, who held it carefully in front of her as though she held a precious gem.

"These are some notes I promised I'd give to Hugo, but I forgot. Would you go take them to him? I think he's still eating dinner." Fiona barely finished talking before Lily all but skipped out of the room to run Fiona's errand. Fiona took her space on the couch and leaned over double, resting her forearms on her thighs to look at Ella. "Ella?" She asked tenderly. Ella didn't move, but her bottom lip twitched and Fiona took that as acknowledgement. "Ella, I know that I wasn't where I was supposed to be earlier today. But you weren't either. And I know that it's none of my business and I have no right to know, but I'd really like it if you told me what you were doing there." She hadn't really been expecting an answer, so it came to no surprise to her when Ella ignored her completely. Finally Fiona sighed and stood. "I'm going to keep talking to you until you talk back." She warned before heading to the dormitory.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lily skipped the final steps to the great hall and peered inside the room, scanning the Ravenclaw table for Hugo. She couldn't see him. As she gave up and turned back to the entrance hall she narrowly avoided colliding into a familiar blonde Ravenclaw.

"Gee, sorry." Lily apologized apprehensively. One of the Lovegoods looked at her and smiled; the Lovegood equivalent to "apology accepted". Lily chewed her bottom lip, looking the twin up and down nervously. This was one of the three Ravenclaws she knew, and the only way to complete her mission from Fiona. But in order to get the twin to deliver the folder to Hugo, she would have to address them, which was not as simple as it sounded. Even the people who knew the twins best mixed them up on a nearly daily basis. For Lily it was a complete shot in the dark.

"Ambrose?" She asked nervously. The twin smiled patiently.

"Andrea." She corrected softly, Lily grimaced in embarrassment, "It's okay, happens all the time." Andrea assured her, "What do you need?" Lily held out the folder.

"Would you give this to Hugo?" Lily asked. Andrea took the folder from her small friend.

"Hugo is studying in the common room with Ambrose, those two are so inseparable." Andrea said with an almost reminiscent tone. Lily nodded, knowing this was very true.

"Thank you." Lily said quickly, not wanting to be away to long and also not wanting to delay the pleasure of telling Fiona she had completed the task. Lily dashed off even as Andrea disappeared into a corridor and James stormed out of the great hall, to the castle entrance, and straight down the castle grounds.

* * *

**I know I know! But I've been busy.**

**Me+Fanfiction+youtube+school+Guitar+American Idol+Rereading those books I have memorized+Possible Courageous Persuaders project= JUST PICK A FREAKING HOBBY ALREADY!!!**

**I need to update my other stories....**

**!!!!!!!!REVIEW!!!!!!!!**

**l**

**l**

**V**

**Hit it like a man!  
**


	6. By Blankets and Owls

_**JAMES POTTER**_

_**And the Road to No Promises**_

**Chapter 6. By Blankets and Owls**_**  
**_

True to call, the school did not mention the scandal. People walk out of classes too often for it to be considered very interesting. Fiona sat with James and Millie as they did Alchemy homework and she wrote down all the answers, but never turned it in. James didn't notice anything different, none of his friends told him that Fiona had dropped out, he still hadn't warmed up to the idea that she had hated it for so long without telling him. Fiona sat in the common room during the period before lunch, she figured that eventually she'd talk to McGonagall about getting a different class in that slot. But even though she told herself she'd do it every day, she didn't. Sometimes, Landon would go to Alchemy and Fiona would do other homework. But sometimes he wouldn't, he'd stay in the common room with Fiona. They never said much, Fiona still did her homework and helped Landon with his (even though he wasn't very happy about doing it), and sometimes they'd talk. About their summers, mostly. Fiona told him all about her trip to Spain and he was fascinated, asking her about every detail of every trip. It was the first time Fiona talked so much about her trips because it didn't feel like bragging, it felt like advertisement. Landon was the kind of person that could turn into a drifter, a traveler, he planned to take a year or two off after school to travel the world and Fiona gave him advice for it.

"I don't have a good sense of direction." Landon told her once as she looked over his Charms homework, "The biggest problem would be that I'd end up somewhere in South America and not be able to find my way back."

"Send me an owl." Fiona answered distractedly, comparing their homework answers, "I'll come and find you."

"Or..." Landon started, then stopped. His abrupt pull back made Fiona look up at him. He was looking into the fire without expression, his fingers sliding around a loose thread in his chair's arm.

"Or...?" Fiona asked seriously, curious about his change of mind but she also felt a little nervous.

"Or..." Landon started again, "You could come with me." He looked at her stunned face for a moment before backtracking, trying to lighten the situation, "You know, if you want to. I mean, then I wouldn't get lost in the first place and it'd be more fun if I wasn't alone anyway." Fiona chewed her tongue thoughtfully for a moment. His invitation was sincere, he really wanted her to come. And she sincerely wanted to go, there was nothing in that moment that she could think of that she would enjoy more than traveling the world with Landon. She loved going places, she loved seeing exotic things, she loved the excitement and the freedom, and she loved spending time with Landon. She wanted very badly to agree, she didn't know what was holding her back but she felt something was keeping her from it.

"I'd like that very, very much." Fiona said slowly, "I'll think about it." Landon's mouth slid up into his signature half-smile, and Fiona almost said yes right then and there.

"Good idea. Don't rush yourself, you've got nearly two years to decide, after all." He said. Fiona nodded and returned to their homework.

* * *

Fiona couldn't think of anyone she'd be able to listen to, advice wasn't something she often asked for from other people. But who could she talk to? Certainly not James, he wouldn't understand. Rose or Lily? No, they wouldn't be able to keep their mouths shut, one hint of excitement and they'd be running off to James. Millie...maybe, true she'd keep the secret to the grave, but it was also hard to imagine her offering advice. Albus was too indecisive to rely on, Hugo too sheltered to know anything useful, the Lovegoods too scatterbrained and their unhelpful ideas were never promising. In the end Fiona was left with two candidates; Michelle, who would both advise and keep the secret, but always at a cost, and her mother. Marina Finnegan always offered her children her services in times of moral crisis. The main reason Fiona didn't want to ask her was because her mother was so busy, and so helpful Fiona almost felt guilty. She owed her mother a lot, all of her children did. She supported them in everything they did, she gave wonderful advice, mediated fights, kept house, kept friends, kept love, and generally kept the family's world from going to ruin. Fiona had no doubt that her mother was anything less than wonder woman. After mulling it over for a while, Fiona decided to consult both. She wrote a letter to her mother, beating around the bush for nearly half a roll of parchment: asking about Kayleigh, Thomas, and Alanna, asking about dad and life and talking about school and classes. Finally, she scribbled out a short description of her daily time with Landon, explained his offer, and told her why she wanted to go. She didn't know what was holding her back, but maybe Marina would. She asked for advice...and permission then walked up to send it before she could decide not to.

* * *

Fiona sat cross-legged on the center of her bed that evening, the dormitory was empty except for her. She wasn't waiting very long before the dormitory door burst open, Michelle ran through it, tossed her bag on her bed and turned to make a hasty retreat.

"Michelle." Fiona called, Michelle turned back and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, Fi. I didn't see you there."

"Where's the fire?"

"No fire, but E.G _did _just dare some first years that they wouldn't be able to hex each other at the same time." Michelle grinned, "I wonder so often how that kid became a prefect."

"Well, there's no technical _rule _against it and that's where he draws the line. Plus he's such a good student." Fiona argued.

"Always the great defender. But that's not important, what's up?" Michelle asked, folding herself on Fiona's bed, facing her.

"I need to talk to you." Fiona said.

"I'd figured. About....?"

"About Landon." Fiona confessed, Michelle's face blanked in shock.

"Landon _Longbottom_?" Michelle asked incredulously, Fiona nodded. Michelle cleared her throat, "What about him?"

"So I was sitting with him before lunch, we do that sometimes. He's always asking about the places I go over vacation, and he's always seemed interested in that I just never really noticed. And you know I don't like to talk about it very much because sometimes people feel bad, or they think I'm bragging. Landon's never been anywhere but I don't feel like I'm bragging to him because he's listening and...cataloging. He said he wants to travel the world for a year or two after school, so he's asking me about it for help. Then he mentioned that he'd probably get lost and not be able to find his way back home. So I told him that he'd just need to send me a letter and I'd come find him, bring him back, ya know? But then he got all serious and said that I could just come with him, if I wanted. And he was _really_ asking! And I _really_ want to go but I feel like I shouldn't, but I don't know why." Fiona sat while Michelle absorbed the situation.

"So let me wrap my head around this." She said, "Landon _Longbottom_ was asking you about your trips, saying he wanted to take trips too?" Fiona nodded and Michelle continued, "Then he started hinting about getting lost, and you offered your help?" Another nod, "And then _Landon Longbottom_ asked you to come travel the world with him?" Fiona nodded again, "And you don't know if you want to go?" Michelle's voice became accusing. Fiona nodded shamefully.

"I was hoping for your advice...and your discretion." She said. Michelle shook her head and sighed.

"How can I keep this to myself?" She raved breathlessly, "That's so huge! Landon is the hardest guy to get in the entire school, everyone knows that and everyone has tried! Now he just invites you along on this world journey, just _begging_ for you to accept! I can't breath I'm so excited! Landon and Fiona, I should have seen it! And now that I do it's so perfect! Landon and Fiona, Longbottom and Finnegan, that sounds kind of weird. Fiona Longbottom, now that's got a bit of a ring to it."

"I just wanted your advice about the trip." Fiona said flatly.

"Right. So, let's look at the facts. You love traveling, he loves traveling. You guys are friends, you like each other and probably wouldn't kill each other if you were together for too long. He asked you to take a year or two off to see the world, which I can recall you already having some plans to do."

"Not officially, and I barely talked to anyone about it." Fiona mumbled.

"That's what you do, though. You're not made to stay in one place for too long, you need the adventure of seeing something new. Landon has never been anywhere, but he's got the itch in his feet, and who better to scratch it than you? I think you two could be great together, you could travel together. I just see it as perfect, what could possibly be the downside?"

"I don't know." Fiona muttered. Michelle studied her.

"Have you talked to James about this?" She asked carefully, Fiona shook her head, "Are you planning to?"

"No, and please don't tell him." Fiona urged her. Michelle studied her friend solemnly for a few long moments before sighing.

"Why?"

"I just don't want him to know until I have a definite answer."

"And I still can't tell him about Alchemy?"

"No." Fiona answered. Michelle looked at her sadly.

"James was really upset when he found out that you don't like Alchemy. He didn't care so much about you hating his favorite subject, he just cared that you didn't tell him. You're best friends and suddenly you won't tell him anything. That doesn't seem fair, he's always honest with you. Don't you think he deserves more?"

"He deserves the best." Fiona said softly, "He always has, and I try to give it to him but lately I haven't felt worthy. I just... can't tell him."

"You know, the more you keep from him the more it's going to hurt when he finds out." Michelle whispered. Fiona's eyes hardened.

"He won't find out, not really. It's all for the best. I'll tell him, I'll just have to decide when and what it is that I'm telling him." Michelle stood slowly and left without another word, but Fiona felt that her friend was disappointed.

"I'm disappointed in me too." She told the empty room before laying her chin on her knees.

* * *

Marina's reply to her daughter's distress was prompt. Fiona received the response at breakfast a week later. She hid it in her bookbag until she'd be able to read it alone. She found the opportunity in the period before lunch, there was a test in Alchemy that Millie insisted Landon had to attend. For once Fiona was glad that he wasn't there, she needed to look at her mother's advice alone. She broke the seal and looked over the reply. It read:

_Fiona, you are so grown up. I know you didn't write this to hear me talk about you're maturity, but you are very wise to seek advice before making such an important decision. First of all, you don't need my permission. What you do after school is your own choice and I always knew you'd go off to travel on your own eventually. Stay in touch, stay alive, stay wonderful. Now, Landon Longbottom asked you to come with him. Such a surprise! Well, he is a very nice boy and he wants the same things as you do. I certainly would like it better if you were with someone when you took on the world without me for the very first time, and I'm sure the Longbottoms will agree with me. The thing I worry about with you is that something his holding you back. I'm sure everyone else is saying what I am, there's nothing to keep you from going with him. But if you're asking my advice it means that something obviously is. Your father and I talked it over (don't worry I have sworn him to secrecy, not even Mr. Thomas or Mr. Potter will know without your permission) and we give you our blessing in whatever you choose to do. But if you want my advice, I give you this; Make a list. That's what I did when I met your father, when we talked about children, and basically every major decision we've ever made. You need to know all consequences before choosing a life-changing course of action. If you're really unsure just take a piece of parchment, write pros and cons. After, evaluate what's on each side of the list. You don't need to choose what got more reasons, sometimes one reason is just more important than the other. Your brother and sisters are fine, by the way. We're all doing great and making plans for Christmas. What would you think of a get-together at the Potters'? We plan to rent out a mansion in the countryside, it'd be all of our friends; The Thomas', The Weasleys, The Potters, The Lovegoods, Grandma, Teddy, The Jordans, and others (the guest list isn't quite complete yet). Unfortunately (or maybe not so, depending on your decision), the Longbottoms have already made plans and send their regrets. Maybe you can ask that friend of yours, Millie, to come. I gather she'd love to have someone over vacation. Hoping to hear good news from you soon- Mum_

Good old Mum, Fiona thought to herself. She'd make the list first thing tomorrow.

* * *

**Yes, this took a while but remember: The longer it takes me to write the better I feel the chapter has to be for you (with the exception of this chapter, I don't wanna talk about it)! I've been busy, I actually wrote this completely in school, mostly in first hour and that seemed to work pretty well! Review!**

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	7. Aye Aye

**JAMES POTTER **

**AND THE ROAD TO NO PROMISES**

**_Chapter 7. Aye Aye_  
**

Fiona curled up on her bed, making a pros and cons list was harder than she thought, she had planned to get the entire thing finished before breakfast. Breakfast was drawing nearer and her list was scratched, edited and unhelpful. The Pros side had been easy enough:

_I love to travel_

_I like spending time with Landon_

_I'd been planning a trip like that anyway_

_My mum thinks I should go_

_Michelle thinks I should go_

_It'd be really fun_

_I want to go really bad_

_Landon could use my help in his travels_

_If I tell Landon yes, it'd make him really happy_

_I don't want to hurt his feelings by saying no_

_I want to spend more time with him_

But the Cons list seemed to be missing some things, maybe important and maybe not so much. She just felt as though there was something she was forgetting about. She gritted her teeth and scratched down one more reason, then re-read the list.

_I h_a_dn't made any definite travel plans_

_I wasn't planning to go right after school_

_I won't be motivated in school if I won't be getting a job right away_

_My other friends might feel abandoned_

_He deserves better_

_I wouldn't be good in an emergency _

_If I say yes, the school might think that we're together_

_Landon might change his mind later on_

_Every girl in school likes him, they could take my place_

_I don't know why he asked me in the first place_

_We haven't been that close very long, it's too soon_

_James  
_

The last reason on the list was scratched out and written in again several times, surrounded by question marks and distracted doodles. Fiona chewed the tip of her quill as she looked it over. 11:12 in favor of saying no. Upon further review she was sure that she'd find some of them completely ridiculous. However, she didn't want to read into them too much right now. But at that moment one word was tipping the scales...James. Why, though? Why was that name an entire reason to say no to Landon? What would James care? They hadn't made plans for after school, they never talked about it, he liked Landon, he was her best friend and downright supportive to boot. He was her best friend and he was a good one. That drew a sigh from her because she knew that lately she had been the opposite of a good friend. They still talked and saw each other and did the same things they always did...but something was different. She was keeping things from him, and they grew heavier by the day. She didn't have the courage to tell him about dropping Alchemy or getting the invitation from Landon when he was always brave enough to tell her the truth. And lately she hadn't always been _there_ when they were talking or studying, maybe her eyes would wander over to see Landon and his group of girls, or maybe she was preoccupied by a conversation she and Landon had earlier. She felt guilty, though she didn't know why. Was it like cheating on her best friend? Like maybe she felt guilty because she felt like she was replacing him? But how could she!? Fiona adored having James as a best friend and wouldn't give that up for anything. Sighing again, Fiona folded the parchment and placed it carefully under her pillow, and left the dormitory for breakfast. James was sitting on the couch in the common room, watching the fire with no particular interest or expression. Fiona walked around it and sat down next to him.

"Big Charms test today." Fiona reminded him, "Think you're ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." He said with a smile. Habitually he reached over and took her hand, holding on to it in the space between his and Fiona's legs, "Lets face it, never gonna be more prepared than studying to the wee hours of the morning. You should come watch Quidditch practice today, you could keep Albus company and Rose is getting bloody deadly with a beater club." He looked at her for an answer and received none. He studied her face, following her unsettled eyes to their clasped hands. He didn't remember taking her hand, it was something they never thought about. They'd often hold hands or lock elbows, they hugged and pressed their knees together and sat so close there was hardly room for air between them. They would exchange pecks on the cheek or top of the head, they'd wrap their arms around shoulder and waist as they walked, they'd throw legs over each other when they were sitting or even sit in the same armchair. It was all very friendly, very physical, but neither of them had ever given it a second thought...until now. Now Fiona focused on their hands as though it was a deadly disease. Slowly and carefully she pulled her hand back from his, looking into the fire while subtly trying to separate them. James noticed. He never noticed when they were holding hands or hugging or anything, but nothing could keep him from noticing when they weren't. His empty hand didn't feel like a hand, it felt like space or air, it felt incomplete.

"I might just stop by for a while, but not for very long. It's practically December now, you know. And as much as I want to watch Quidditch there is no force on earth that would make me stand in the cold for two hours." Fiona answered him, talking as normally as ever. James looked at her carefully, she seemed the same, but it didn't feel the same. Now that he thought about it it hadn't been the same in a while. Fiona didn't focus, she didn't...he didn't even know what exactly it was.

"We should go to breakfast." He said finally, standing and striding toward the portrait hole before the words had even left his mouth.

* * *

As Fiona headed back to the common room to spend the period before lunch she was surprised to see Landon waiting for her, leaning on the wall beside the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Don't you ever go to class?" Fiona asked him. Landon grinned.

"Hardly. Why go to classes when I can be sitting here outside of a portrait?" He asked. The corners of Fiona's lifted up in a little smiled.

"Then why are you waiting outside? I'm sure it's just as fun to wait inside the common room."

"We need to talk." He said simply. Fiona shifted her weight uncomfortably.

"About...?" She asked. Landon's grin widened mysteriously as he moved forward and took her hand. Before Fiona could say anything Landon was dragging her off through the corridors at a leisurely pace. "Where are we going?" Fiona demanded, receiving no answer. She didn't know where they were going, but Fiona found herself hoping it'd take a while to get there. She couldn't stop thinking about his hand on hers, his hand muscles gripping her gently, taking control. His skin was smooth and creamy looking, not a blotch of pink on them, if Fiona didn't know him better she'd accuse him of moisturizing. She knew it was silly of her, but she started appreciating his fingers. They weren't too fat, they weren't too bony, they felt nice wrapped around her own fingers...she liked it. Not only did she like if but she felt so....content about it. _It's just his hand!_ Fiona shouted internally, catching herself, _He's taking me somewhere and I'm freaking out about his hands! That is so pathetic! Stop doing this in front of Landon! I mean...It's only Landon. I mean...  
_

He came to a stop in front of a tapestry that Fiona had never paid attention to before. He pulled it back to reveal a dim passageway.

"How did you find this?" Fiona asked as Landon helped her step inside.

"Shear accident," He answered innocently, Fiona didn't believe him, "No one really knows about it, and if they do they don't care because this doesn't lead anywhere. See?" He pointed in front of them where the ceiling had collapsed, "It's all caved in, don't know where it goes." Fiona pulled out her wand and waved it, several little orbs of light floated up from it and bumped against the stone ceiling. Landon watched them, "Cute." He commented. Fiona bristled at anything about her being called 'cute', but Landon looked at her and smiled, and she forgot what she'd been so mad about.

"Why do we need to talk?" Fiona asked, sitting down in the small tunnel. Her legs stretched across its entire width and as she leaned against one wall her feet were pressed flatly down on the other.

"I wanted to explain some things to you." He answered, sitting down in the same position next to her feet so that he could see her face.

"What things?" Fiona asked impatiently.

"I asked you to come traveling with me, around the world. I know that's something you'd really want to do, but not something you seem to want to do with me." Fiona opened her mouth to argue but Landon cut her off, "Just let me finish. Terms to terms there's a straightforward reason that I asked you specifically. It isn't because you like to travel or have a good sense of direction. It's because I like you." Fiona started to speak again but Landon narrowed his eyes in warning and she thought better of it. "I like the idea of traveling around with you, and maybe by that time we'll be friends, maybe we'll be more than that. But I like this picture, I just wanted you to know that before you got too into a decision." He finished and watched her cautiously. Fiona's eyes were wide as dinner plates. He said he liked her...he said he _liked_ her! She felt like a cartoon, the cogs in her brain came to a screeching halt.

"I...But..." Fiona put a hand to her head, "That's a lot to take in."

"Why is that?" Landon asked, giving her an even look. _Gee,_ Fiona thought sarcastically, _I wonder. Because you're Landon freaking Longbottom! Because you're good-looking and funny and surprising and thoughtful. Because every girl in the world is chasing after you and I'm sitting in a cramped, dark, tunnel with you while we should both be in class._

"You just can't be sure." Fiona said finally, "You could have _any_ girl in the school. I'm not the prettiest or the smartest, I'm not in clubs or in Quidditch, there are just so many things that people expect of you. Any girl in the school...and there's no visible reason for you to pick me."

"I guess I'm just not as shallow as they say." Landon answered with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. That was enough to knock the air out of Fiona's lungs. Shallow...that was the last thing she would have thought about Landon Longbottom. At least...not after a few weeks ago...not after she got to know him. Is that what she had thought he was? Is that how the school saw him? Shallow....and then wasn't that what she was just accusing him of?

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, "I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about it." Landon interrupted, "I understand. And let me explain; I know that you may not be considered the prettiest or smartest girl in school. But you sell yourself short because whether or not that's true you are beautiful, and you're brilliant. You're a Charms wizard and you see things in Divination that even impress Firenze. You're hair is so neat and soft-looking and it's really distracting for the boy sitting behind you when you sweep it behind your ear during class. You're so honest most of the time, you'll say what you think. No one tells you how pretty your eyes look when you look up through your eyelashes, or how they streak gold in the sunlight, and sometimes they light up enough to make people smile just because you get excited about something. You're fun, you're easy to talk to, you're laugh and smile are contagious and when given a choice there is no one that I'd rather spend time with." Fiona was electrically aware that he had rested his hand on her knee, his fingers that weren't too fat or too bony cupped around her kneecap. Sure, it was just a touch...and innocent touch from his hand to her knee in the dimly lit tunnel. She focused for a moment on not hyperventilating.

"That's really, really nice." She said, Landon had glanced down but now raised his eyes to hers. They sparkled, Fiona had never seen Landon's eyes actually sparkle before like that, and he smiled. Fiona felt the smile spread across her lips as she felt the blush spread across her cheeks. It wasn't dark enough to keep Landon from seeing it and he looked triumphant, he'd been secretly nervous about having this conversation with her, but the red on her face and the twinkle in her eyes put him at ease, they more than answered his plea. They sat like that for a while, it could have been thirty seconds, thirty minutes, maybe an entire hour, but they didn't want to move.

"I suppose we should go back before we miss lunch." Landon said. Fiona nodded. Landon stood first and then offered his hand to help Fiona up. She took his hand and he heaved her to a standing position, it was so cramped in the tunnel that the force brought Fiona bumping into Landon. She muttered an apology while he steadied her, keeping her close to his body. She looked up at him, the little orbs of light were still bouncing around lazily on the ceiling, Landon's smile wasn't very big but it was on both sides of his mouth. Shadows played across his face and darkened his eyes, making it hard to Fiona to fully decipher his expression. Then she pulled back so quickly that she nearly lost her balance.

"Sorry," She said again in slight panic, "I forgot that I promised James do some last minute studying for our Charms test." She started to back away but Landon put his arm out, pressing his hand against the wall in front of her and trapping her there. Fiona backed against the wall as Landon leaned into her to keep her from leaving.

"One more thing." He said seriously, his eyes hardening as they looked into hers, "For clarification, I don't do competition. I don't try to out-gallant someone, I'm not interested in winning hearts through battle. I just don't do it. So if you're going to pick James, pick him now and save us all some trouble. If you're not he'd better stay out of my way. Are we clear?"

"Me and James are just friends." Fiona insisted, "Best friends, mind you, but just friends all the same." Landon's face pulled into that sad smirk that Fiona had noticed on him not too long ago.

"Ask around, I don't think there's a single person in this school who thinks so." He said, leaning back and letting her go.

* * *

Fiona sent Landon on ahead to lunch and she ran up to the dormitory and fished the parchment out from under her pillow. She looked at the list and proceeded to cross things out that no longer applied.

_He deserves better _Scratched_  
_

_If I say yes, the school might think that we're together _Scratched_  
_

_Landon might change his mind later on _Scratched_  
_

_Every girl in school likes him, they could take my place _Scratched_  
_

_I don't know why he asked me in the first place _Scratched_  
_

_We haven't been that close very long, it's too soon _Scratched_  
_

_James _Fiona poised her quill over the final con on the list. James, that morning she had put his name as a con without knowing why. That morning she pulled away from him, she'd hurt his feelings, they're relationship was changing, he didn't know it, there was so much she hadn't been telling him. They were best friends...but this was Landon. In a moment of decision, Fiona scratched through the line _James _with a flourish. She then held the paper at arm's length and recounted.

"The 'ayes' have it." She said to herself with a smile.

* * *

**Wow, that was a quick update. Yay! Updates are going to be random, I do them as I feel them now and I'm not going in chronological order updating my stories anymore. So some of them may take a while to come out and some of them might not be very far off. I'm really excited about the next couple of chapters for this so expect this story sooner rather than later!**

**DON'T LEAVE BEFORE YOU REVIEW!**

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	8. December

**JAMES POTTER**

**AND THE ROAD TO NO PROMISES  
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_**Chapter 8. December**_

It all started on one day. Landon and Fiona walked out of dinner, and Landon took her hand. A first year Ravenclaw girl saw it and ran off to tell Hugo, who told Andrea and Ambrose, who told Lily, who told Ella and Rose, who told Albus, who told Michelle, who told Millie, who kept her mouth shut. But it didn't matter, because the whole school was buzzing about them. They'd left classes and meals holding hands, Landon walked Fiona to her classes, they sat together in class and at meals and in the common room. In the evenings they'd be curled up in the same window seat, backs to the wall in very much the same sitting position they had used in the small tunnel. They'd sit through the evening and into the night doing homework, or just talking. Neither of them said anything about their relationship, there was nothing official and terms hadn't been discussed, but the rest of the school did that for them, labeling Fiona Finnegan and Landon Longbottom the year's "it" couple. And as Christmas break drew nearer nearer, Fiona and Landon spent more and more time together, seemingly oblivious to the school's speculation.

Michelle in particular was giddy about the idea of helping the two get together (that was how she saw it, anyway). She sat on Fiona's bed every night to return the years that Fiona had listened to her boy-crazy faces, but ironically in those chats Michelle still did most of the talking. Fiona didn't mind very much, she'd smile and listen to Michelle's assessments with general amusement.

James, it seemed to most people, was ignoring the situation entirely. Only one person knew that this wasn't true. That person, oddly enough, was Millie. As December seemed to grow longer and longer James found Millie the easiest person to talk to. She wasn't caught up in the Landon/Fiona hype that had over come the rest of the school and all of their friends. He found it nice to just sit in silence for a while, Millie would listen and respond in any conversation, but most of the time things were calm. She was a friend worth having, James decided. Even though they didn't talk often, Millie was more perceptive than people gave her credit for. She knew that James wasn't ignoring Landon and Fiona when he glance to the window they were sitting in when they were doing homework, when his mood got sourer by the day. She allowed it, she didn't confront him, she couldn't if she tried. But she knew that he just needed his space, and Millie was an expert and giving people space.

One evening Landon got detention for skipping Potions one too many times, and Fiona sat with James on the couch as he did his Alchemy homework. She watched him with bitter admiration, he made it look so easy. For a while neither of them said anything, until James sat down his quill and looked at her.

"So..." He said slowly. Fiona grinned.

"So...?" She baited.

"Are you and Landon..dating?" He asked. Fiona cocked her head to the side thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure, we never really talked about it."

"But don't you act like it? You know the whole school is saying it, but is it true?"

"I don't know." Fiona said thoughtfully, "I'm not sure that it's like that." Somehow, James felt comforted.

* * *

That night, everyone had gone up to bed except for Fiona and Landon. Fiona was helping Landon with homework that he needed to finish, he'd lost time in detention and Fiona refused to let it happen again so soon. Landon was getting distracted, levitating a feather with his wand. With a sigh, Fiona put down her books and watched him for a while before asking him,

"Landon, are we dating?" He glanced at her, the feather losing height for a moment before Landon was able to focus on it enough again.

"Do you want us to be dating?" He asked.

"Well, I'd certainly like to know if we are." She insisted, "You know, the whole school assumes it, we act like it, but are we?"

"Do you need a label?"

"Can you stop answering my question with other questions?" Fiona asked, Landon sent her a wicked smile. "I mean, are we dating? Exclusively? Are we together? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?" Landon took a moment to slowly lower the feather, it landed it Fiona's cupped hands. He leaned forward.

"Okay, Fiona. Here it is, it takes more than one person to make a relationship, so this is as much up to you as it is to me. And if you want to label it...I'd really like it if you'd be my girlfriend."

"Ask me nicely." Fiona said, joking in a vain attempt to get the butterflies out of her stomach. Landon's smile tipped up a bit wider and he stood, kneeling next to her seat and taking her hand.

"Fiona Finnegan," He said so seriously that Fiona couldn't find it in herself to take it lightly, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Fiona's first reaction was to smile lightly, like a continuous joke, and agree. But he looked serious, it felt serious, she was serious.

"Yes." She said, smiling only a little bit but her eyes gleamed, "I'd love to be your girlfriend." They held that pose for another moment before Landon smiled at her and resumed his seat.

"There you go then." Landon said. Fiona nodded. There, now she could tell James that she was in fact dating Landon. But by the end of the night she'd forgotten, and the next day it slipped her mind completely. She meant to tell her best friend, but she didn't.

* * *

It was the first day of Christmas break, students were bustling about the school, getting ready to board the train back to London. Fiona, James, Michelle, Millie, Lily, Albus, Rose, Hugo, Andrea, Ambrose, E.G and Millie were all traveling to to the countryside for the gathering of families. Landon was going to his great-grandmother's. Landon helped Fiona drag her things out of the school and to the platform. The stood by a large pillar, holding hand.

"I'm going to miss you over break." Fiona told him.

"Well, we've still got the whole train ride." Landon said comfortingly, Fiona leaned into him.

"But still." She insisted, "I'll feel bad for you, trapped with your parents and Gran. At least I have fifty or so people to choose from." Landon wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closely. She put her arms around his neck and pouted at him. He grinned.

"Maybe you could change your plans and come with me." Landon suggested.

"That sounds like fun." Fiona said sarcastically, "Really, I'm sorry though."

"Just don't forget about me over break, okay?" Landon asked.

"I wouldn't!" Fiona insisted.

"Promise me." Landon said, leaning a little closer, "That you'll remember me." He leaned down more and kissed her. Fiona stood in shock for a moment before closing her eyes and kissing back. They'd never kissed before, but she liked it. The feel of his lips on hers made her legs turn to jello and Fiona felt like she had been swept off her feet. He leaned completely into her and moved his hands places Fiona should have probably objected to, but when they were kissing she just didn't care. He pulled back and Fiona opened her eyes.

"I promise." She vowed breathlessly, Landon grinned at her much as the Big Bad Wolf would have grinned at Little Red Riding Hood. They felt so secluded behind their pillar, they were cut off from the whole world. Or most of the world, anyway. They didn't see the two people who started to pass by during the kiss. At first they walked normally, then stopped, and now Millie practically had to run to keep up with her black-haired companion.

"She lied." James growled, "She said she didn't know."

"Well, they may not be official or something, or they are now." Millie said, "I mean, she only said that."

"What she does isn't nearly as important as what she says." James said darkly, "She told me she didn't know, we're always honest. And if she wasn't honest enough to tell me about this, what else could she be keeping from me? I don't think I could handle any more." Millie felt the air leave her lungs, guilt and fear overtook her. He didn't know about Alchemy, about Fiona's free period with Landon, he didn't know about Landon's invitation, he didn't know about a lot of things. Millie practically choked as she insisted on keeping her words back, she never broke confidentiality. But he looked so hurt...all he ever wanted was honesty. He didn't care what Fiona did, he just wanted to know about it, know the truth. James shook his head in disgust and moved to get on the train.

"James, wait!" Millie called out louder than was probably necessary. James stopped on the steps and looked at her curiously. Millie took a deep breath, "There's something you should know."

* * *

**A short, transition chapter but nevertheless important. I have a few points to make:**

**1. I love James too! Calm down a bit :)**

**2. I absolutely LOVE reviews, unless all they say is "update!" really people? I want to hear about my writing, and I especially don't appreciate the update nags within the first few days of updating. Wait a week, then bug me all you want!**

**REVIEW!!**

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	9. Christmas in the Country

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 9. Christmas in the Country_  
**

The country house was worthy of being called a mansion, even a castle. It sat on rolling green lawns, surrounded by oak trees nevermind the season. The house itself was four floors tall and took up over 2 blocks worth of space. There were 20 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, one giant Dining room, 10 bathrooms, a library, 3 parlors, 2 studies, a greenhouse, and a pantry the size of a Hogwarts dormitory. Mostly, the rooms were divided by families, the parents got their own room and the kids would be in a room nearby. That meant that Marina and Seamus Finnegan would get their own room; Fiona would be sharing with Nora, Kayleigh, Thomas, and Alannah. The guest list was frighteningly long. Not only were Fiona, James, Lily, Rose, Albus, Hugo, Andrea, Ambrose, E.G, Michelle, and Millie there but everyone's entire family. Nora would be coming home for the break and Fiona's parents were bringing Kayleigh, Thomas, and Alannah. Bill and Fleur Weasley would be there, along with their daughter Victorie. Teddy Lupin would be there, and so would Michelle's father Dean Thomas. E.G's parents Angelina and Lee Jordan were coming. Luna Lovegood and her now on-again fiancee Jerry Appleton, Charlie and Percy Weasley were there as a rare treat, along with Percy's wife Penelope. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley senior were there, the grandparents to every last child. George Weasley was bringing his long term girlfriend Sierra Lance, and Fiona's Grandma Finnegan was coming. Millie had come as a friend but would be rooming with Michelle.

Needless to say the house was bursting with occupants, but there was room enough for all. The group of people had grown up so close to each other that to save everyone trouble, anyone who wasn't your blood relative was automatically an aunt or uncle. Fiona often joked that Luna was her favorite Aunt, but would backtrack when her Aunt Ginny raised her eyebrows. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the only exceptions, they were still grandparents but if you knew what was good for you, you wouldn't call them that unless they were actually your grandparents.

The first night of their stay Mrs. Weasley recruited all the women in the house over the age of 17 to help her make a big dinner. Everyone else had to set up the dinning room, trying to find a way to fit everyone at the same long table. It was winter and days were short, but every single person was worth spending time with. The break passed mostly as Fiona reconnected with her family and close friends. But also there it was easy to be two ships passing, even in the Quidditch tournaments they couldn't spend time with anyone. Fiona didn't speak to James on his own until the last day before their return to Hogwarts. Fiona had been tidying her room up a bit after lunch and James entered behind her. He didn't say anything, he just stood in the doorway with is arms crossed, waiting for her to notice him. Fiona turned around with some books in her hands and stopped.

"Hey James." She said cheerfully, dumping the books into her trunk, "I haven't seen you around, such a busy vacation. Do you think we'll start doing this every year? I really hope so because it's so much fun to see everyone." She looked up when he didn't say anything. She took in his dark expression and ominous posture curiously, "What's up?" She asked.

"So..." He said.

"So..?" Fiona repeated, smiling.

"So are you and Landon dating?" He asked.

"Pretty much." Fiona said with a noncommittal shrug, but she stopped after a moment and gave a truthful "Yes." James didn't look surprised, nothing about him changed.

"So..." He started again, "When were you planning on telling me?"

"I was going to, but then I never really got around to it." Fiona said guiltily.

"And how long have you been trying to find the time?"

"A couple weeks, just since we were official." She said.

"Fiona, you just told me two seconds ago 'pretty much' before giving me a real answer."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm baffled, Fiona, baffled!" James said, stepping into the room, "You didn't tell me, you _never_ told me. There's more to being honest than telling the truth, it's about not leaving things out, and that's what you've been doing."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Landon, but I think you're overreacting a little bit." Fiona said.

"I'm not overreacting, if anything I'm _under _reacting. Lately it seems as if I'm just not very important to you anymore."

"You are important!" Fiona said loudly, hurt by his accusation, "You are _so_ important! You're my best friend!"

"Am I, Fi? Am I really?" James demanded, sounding angry.

"Of course! I'm sorry that I've been so busy with Landon, but just because I didn't tell you right out about doesn't mean that you're not still important. You are more important than all of my other friends."

"Am I even your friend?" James asked in a cracked whisper. Fiona looked at him.

"James, what's going on?" She asked softly.

"Just answer the question."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." Fiona stuck her chin out stubbornly, "Where is this coming from?" James glared at her until she answered, "Yes, you're my friend. Now what the bloody hell is this all about?"

"Fiona Finnegan, you are a liar." James snapped, startling her, "It took you years to tell me that you hated Alchemy, and you threw it in my face like a bomb when you weren't feeling well. You didn't tell me that you dropped Alchemy." Fiona's insides froze, she was falling backward, she took a step back from James, unable to speak. "Way at the beginning of the year, you've had that free period ever since and you never told me. It's more than that but you _lied_ through your teeth. Asking for help with the homework, writing down the answers on paper you wouldn't turn in, studying for tests you weren't going to take. You just lead me on. And then I find out that you've done something important, and you didn't talk to me about it. Since when can you not confide in me?"

"I'm sorry." Fiona choked, her eyes filling with tears.

"You're sorry? Fiona, I don't know what's going on anymore! I don't know a damn thing about you, who are you? What do like? What do you hate? How long have you been lying to me? What else, Fi? What else are you lying about? Am I really your best friend? Am I any kind of friend anymore? I don't even know if our friendship was real to begin with." James stormed.

"Don't say that!" Fiona yelled, tears spilling out of her open eyes because she was too terrified to close them. "How can you say that? We've been friends for years and every second of it was real."

"No, it wasn't. It wasn't when you did your Alchemy homework with me. It ended at a point, what point was that? When did it stop? Last month? Last year? Two years ago? The moment you saw me on the train?" Fiona couldn't respond, she continued to back away slowly, but James was advancing, "And then I find that not only have you dropped the class, but that you're spending that free time with Landon Longbottom. _Landon Longbottom_! You two never even talked very much and then suddenly you're inseparable!" James shouted, he took a deep breath then continued in a dangerously low voice, "Then I hear, not from you, but of course, why would you tell me? I hear that Landon asked you to come away with him. Travel the world, you made plans for a year or two without telling me. He asked you, this boy you'd just gotten to know asked you to leave us all behind. And then I hear that you _accepted!_" He was shouting again.

"Where did you hear that?" Fiona begged, "Who told you?"

"It's true then?" James asked. Fiona nodded.

"It's true. James I'm so sorry, I never meant to keep anything from you!" She cried.

"I don't believe you, I don't believe a single word that could possibly come out of your lying mouth."

"People lie! It happens! You can't expect everyone to be honest all the time."

"I have _never _lied to you. Not once! But what I don't understand," James looked at her with a tendering expression, "is why couldn't you just talk to me?"

"I'm not sure." Fiona gasped through her tears, "I didn't want to disappoint you, I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to give up that time we spend together when we do homework together. Every time I didn't talk it was because I thought you wouldn't understand, or that it'd be better for our friendship."

"Lying would be better for our friendship?" James growled.

"I didn't lie, though!"

"You don't have to! Can't you see? It would be like...if everything was going good, and then suddenly someone tells you that I'm dating...Andrea Lovegood! And I've dropped out of Charms to spend more time with her. And we've made plans to go mountain-climbing after school, doing something dangerous with her for some unknown amount of time." Fiona winced. He was right, that smarted.

"But..." Fiona stuttered, grasping at straws, "You're supposed to be my best friend, you're supposed to be able to tell if something's wrong. You never notice what I hated, what I didn't, who I spent time with. What does that say about you?"

"It says that I didn't think things would be truly wrong until you came to me about it. I had no reason to believe that I'd have investigate into everything you do. If something was truly wrong you'd tell me and we'd figure it out together. But you kept so many things, for so long. And somehow everyone else knew except for me."

"Please, who told you?" Fiona asked.

"Someone who's a better friend than you are."

"James, I said I was sorry! What else do you want me to do? Want me to be honest? You got it, I'll do it! I'll do anything if you tell me what it is you want!"

"I don't want anything from you, Fiona." James said quietly, "I want to stay as far away from you as possible." Fiona stepped back, feeling like she had been slapped.

"What do you mean?" She asked nervously, "That's it? All these years and you just want to call it quits? You're just..." She searched for the right word, "_dumping _me?"

"I've wasted this long on a friendship that I don't even know was real. I don't know at what point it stopped at, so I can't take chances. I'm sorry, I really am, but I just can't deal with this." He looked at her, and for the most fleeting moment the anger left his face, showing the James Fiona knew and loved, and should never have kept secrets from. But it was only a moment, James turned on his heel and left Fiona standing alone.

* * *

Fiona's mother found her second-oldest daughter curled up on her bed, trying to silence her sobs.

"Fiona, what are you doing?" Marina asked, sitting on the bed and putting a comforting hand on her.

"Trying to convince myself I don't need him." Fiona whispered.

"And how's that going for you?"

"It's not going anywhere. Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Fiona asked.

"Oh, Fi." Marina sighed sadly, "I don't know. But what I do know is that friendship is fickle, especially at your age. It's not fair, I know, but nothing's really fair. The best you can do is learn from your mistakes."

"But it doesn't matter!" Fiona sobbed hopelessly, "I just lost the best friend I could possibly have, I don't want to learn from that mistake because it won't bring him back! Nothing else is worth it, no one else is worth it."

"Honey, if you really feel that way then make amends. Sometimes it takes years and sometimes it never happens, but if you constantly right your wrongs, even when they're not looking, they see that you really are sorry and are doing everything you can to win him back."

"He doesn't want me back." Fiona said miserably.

"Then don't go back." Marina suggested sympathetically, "You're both wonderful kids, you can make new friends." Fiona just shook her head. Marina stayed and stroked her daughter's back until she stopped crying.

* * *

That night was the final dinner they were having together at the countryhouse. Fiona sat in her usual place across from James and Millie, Michelle was next to her, Andrea and Ambrose next to Millie, Rose and Albus next to James, Lily and Hugo next to Fiona. Fiona looked up and James suddenly became very interested in his food. Her gaze wandered to the left and Millie, Ambrose, and Andrea all kept their eyes deliberately down. Rose gave her a weak smile before taking a drink from her goblet and then Albus hurriedly started a conversation with her. Lily looked in her eyes then looked away quickly, as though frightened. Hugo ignored her completely. When Fiona turned to Michelle her friend smiled at her then her eyes slowly moved down, but flicked back to Fiona for a guilty second. Fiona sat straight, looked over James' head in shock. Not one of them. They were all so disappointed that not a single one of her closest friends could look her in the eye.

* * *

**I imagined the house before remembering it was winter break, so who cares if it's cold in England? Rolling Green Lawns here we come!**

**Another quick update by me! And the next chapter will probably be up the day after tomorrow....**

**But only if you**

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	10. Swear By It

**JAMES POTTER **

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 10. Swear By It_  
**

Rose Weasley jumped off the train onto the platform at Hogwarts. She stood up straight, looked around, and turned back to the train to grin at Albus.

"Dare you to jump farther!" She called. Albus rolled his eyes and stepped off the train calmly.

"Rose, you are 13 years old, don't you think we're a bit old to be jumping off of things?" He asked. Rose rolled her eyes at him and turned back to look at the school with a shudder.

"Winter break over. I loved the break, and I love it here, but I'm not ready to go back to class." She said sadly.

"I'm sure there will be some sort of Bon Voyage party this evening." Albus assured her, watching E.G Jordan meet up with some of his friends suspiciously, "Gryffindors do love a good party." His eyes drifted away from E.G toward a pillar, and the first thing that caught his eye was Landon holding Fiona against him, her face buried in his chest as he tried to sooth her. Her shoulders shook in small, hysterical movements. Albus turned to leave the platform but Rose caught his elbow, observing the same things he had.

"_We_ don't have to be mad at her." Rose said matter-of-factly, "We knew the whole time and we didn't say anything either. Plus, we're family, James can't stay mad at us for too long."

"I'm not mad." Albus grumbled, "If anything I feel guilty, we helped and she got all the heat." The two of them walked to the carriages and climbed into one, after a few moments Lily climbed in with them. Her cheeks were rosy pink with excitement.

"We're back!" She said cheerfully. Rose and Albus looked at each other.

"Ah, to be a first year again." Albus mused, Rose elbowed him and turned back to Lily.

"What are you most excited about?" Rose asked her youngest cousin.

"I'm excited about everything! I missed Hogwarts, and the food, and the classes, and the teachers, and Ella."

"How are things going with Ella, by the way?"

"She's actually really smart, her grades are always better than mine and she doesn't even have to try!" Lily answered.

"Humph." Albus said with a sidways glance at Rose, who ignored him.

"Do you guys talk much?" Rose continued.

"Not really." Lily said ruefully, "But that's okay because I say enough for the both of us."

"I'll bet!" Rose laughed. Lily settled into her seat as the carriage started to move.

* * *

The next morning Rose watched Albus pick at his breakfast moodily.

"Cheer up." She told him, "Classes aren't that bad, you even like them most of the time. Plus, there's Quidditch practice later."

"I know." Albus groaned, "It's just one of those days where you don't want to wake up."

"Sounds like you have spring fever." Rose giggled, "Ready for summer to emerge."

"It's only January, if that's my problem I'm in for big disappointment." Lily came skipping up to the table, dragging Ella with her. They sat down across from Rose and Albus.

"Hello Rose, Ella." Rose greeted good-naturedly, Albus lifted his hand in greeting. Lily put jam on her toast and ate it comfortably. Rose and Albus had been very supportive of her friendship with Ella. They allowed her and Lily to sit with them at meals, or in the common room. Rose was great for homework questions because once they got Albus started he was hard to shut up. Plus, Rose often put forth an effort to include the small first year; asking questions, saying hello, and just being friendly in hopes of getting Ella to open up a bit. It went without saying that her attempts were fruitless, Ella stayed as distant as ever.

"I heard that there was a Hogsmaede trip in a few weeks." Lily pouted, "Are you all going to go and leave us here all alone?"

"It's not until February." Albus said, "And you won't be all alone, other people are staying." Lily just crossed her arms.

"Maybe you could convince Ambrose or Andrea to stay." Rose suggested. Lily looked at her hopefully. "What classes do you two have this morning?" Rose asked, keeping the conversation going.

"Tansfiguration and History of Magic."

"Oh." Rose and Albus winced. Although they both found the subject bearable, no one could stay awake listening to Professor Binns, it just couldn't be done. Lily nodded, accepting their sympathy, then turned to wave at someone entering the dining hall. James came in and sat down next to Rose.

"How did you sleep?" Rose asked. James shrugged, grabbing some toast and buttering it.

"James, are _you_ going on the Hogsmeade trip next month?" Lily asked hopefully.

"I was planning on it, why?"

"Ella doesn't want everyone to go and leave us." Lily said, gesturing toward her small friend.

"Now, she's not a scapegoat." James scolded, starting to smile, "I'm sure Ella will survive."

"Quidditch practice today!" Rose told him excitedly.

"That's right! I forgot, thanks Rose. Sometime I think I'd lose my head if you didn't keep telling it to stay on my shoulders." He said appreciatively.

"Funny, that's what Aunt Luna said about it too." Albus commented.

* * *

"Stop worrying!" Rose commanded Albus as she climbed through the door of the Room of Requirement. Albus followed her in nervously.

"But this is probably out of bounds." He argued.

"Albus, barely anyone even knows about it. Plus, out of bounds places at Hogwarts are password protected. Come on now, I hid it in here." She dragged Albus inside the room and he gasped. The room was dark, a single bracket of candles illuminated the room which was about half the size of the great hall. Albus thought it looked like a tortured poet's study, the floor was littered with bits of parchment and overturned wastebaskets, the desk was dark and covered in dried wax, the chair had once been worthy of a headmaster but now it was stained and the stuffing ran out of slashes in the cushion.

"You hid _what_ here?" Albus demanded dryly. Rose walked over to desk and opened one of the drawers with great difficulty; it stuck and Rose had to jiggle it loose. She pulled out a small stack of very old-looking blank parchment.

"I got it from James, it's how he got away with all those pranks, he _never_ got caught. But he was cornered by Filch once and I was passing by, he slipped it in my pocket. Well, I asked him about it later and he told me I should hide it for a while, but I shouldn't tell him where it is just in case he gets too tempted. Then I asked him what it was and he told me everything, so now I know how to use it."

"How to use what?" Albus repeated, becoming more exasperated by the second. Rose stuck her tongue out at him and knelt, laying the parchment out on the ground. Albus knelt across the parchment from her, watching curiously. Rose took out her wand and tapped the paper.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She murmured. Albus's eyebrows shot up at the familiar phrase. He bent over the parchment and read the words _Marauder's Map_ just as they appeared. The map formed below the words, stretching out across the parchment and littering itself with small labeled dots.

"Blimey." Albus whispered, "You've got the Marauder's Map!"

"You seem really surprised." Rose observed as Albus continued to gape at the map.

"I am. My dad used to tell us stories about it, what it did, how he got it, what he used it for, who made it. But I always thought it was just a story, there's no mention of it anywhere. All of those biographies and studies, not even a hint. And now I come to find out that James had it the whole time." He stroked the map affectionately, "It's brilliant."

"Do you two want a moment alone?" Rose asked, crossing her arms. Albus glared at her.

"Shut up. But what are we going to do with it?" He asked.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Rose said, smiling wickedly. She pointed her wand back at the parchment with a flick muttering "Mischief managed." She tucked them into her robes pocket and laughed aloud.

"What's so funny?" Albus asked.

"I was just thinking about the people who wrote this, I know who it was because I've heard that story a few times myself. But think about actually being able to come up with something that was controlled by words like 'I solemnly swear' and 'Mischief managed'. Isn't that just brilliant!"

"I'll say."

"We should make our own." Rose suggested as she stepped into the corridor outside of the Room of Requirement. Albus followed her thoughtfully. "I mean, not a map but something like it. Some kind of legacy, maybe." Rose continued.

"Yeah..." Albus agreed in a daze. Rose grinned at him, knowing that he didn't see her, he was too caught up in the new idea. "I suppose we could. We'd have to get help, mind you. We're just a couple of really smart third years, after all."

"Well, what about James?" Rose suggested.

"Maybe." Albus replied, but he sounded doubtful.

"What about E.G? Or maybe Fiona? Maybe even one of the Lovegoods?"

"I refuse to let E.G even see this, he'd take all the glory. The Lovegoods are smart but I don't know how much help they'd be, they can be kind of batty sometimes, have you noticed?"

"Yes I have." Rose giggled, "So that leaves Fiona. I don't think Millie would be a lot of help. And neither would Michelle, she gets distracted too easily. I don't know Landon very well but maybe he could help, he does seem to know a lot about breaking the rules, after all. Maybe we could even get Lily and Ella in it a little, and don't you dare dismiss that!" Rose warned, Albus looked momentarily stumped.

"I know they'd be helpful and good at it, but they're first years and I don't know how much they could help."

"There's always Felicia Massengil, she's the smartest person I know."

"But we don't know her very well, she's nice and all but that'd be uncomfortable. She can be a resource."

"A resource. Oh listen to you." Rose said with amusement.

"But what should it be? Something to help break rules? I can't think....something that the map doesn't already do....direction, detection, detention," Albus started listing off words, searching for something that would fit their scenario.

"Detection..._distraction_." Rose jumped in with excitement, "Delusion, deception!"

"That's it!" Albus shouted, the two exchanged a quick high five.

"That's going to be really hard..." Rose said softly. Albus hadn't yet gotten past his planning process, and if it weren't for Rose he never would. "Come on!" Rose commanded, dragging him off to the library.

* * *

**Just a little bit shorter than usual...but the next chapter IS coming out soon.**

**Yes, it has strayed a bit from following Fiona around all the time. Time passes, and sometimes things become less important to our characters....I don't know what that means but that part of the story will return.**

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	11. TeamWork

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 11. Team-Work_  
**

A couple of weeks later Rose, Albus, Lily, Ella, and James were all sitting together at breakfast when the post came in. Even though she was halfway through her first year Lily was still fascinated by the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of owls swirling around the great hall. She was staring up at them when a familiar Masked Owl landed in front of them.

"Ollie!" She squealed in delight. The owl had been a family owl that Harry and Ginny had purchased only a couple of years ago, it was then given to Lily as a present when she started school. Lily had grown very fond of Ollie and Ollie had shown her quite a bit of favoritism before becoming hers outright. A Great Horned Owl landed in front of James, his owl, Evert. Albus had chosen not to get an Owl, that summer he was going to pick a pet of his own to bring. So the family Snowy Owl Hatcher landed in front of him.

"Mum held off a while." James commented, "Two weeks without writing or seeing us, she's breaking records." The others laughed as the three Potters untied their Owls and allowed them to fly off to the owlery. Rose leaned over to read over Albus's shoulder, not wanting to miss a Potter Post. Upon breaking the seal each of them pulled out several pieces of parchment.

"Five pages from Mum." Albus said, leafing through the pages. They all did the same, setting down their mother's five pages and turning their attention to the one page written by their dad.

_Maybe if all of you sent daily updates your mother would calm down a bit with the letter-writing. It's been two weeks since we last saw you and even though absolutely nothing has happened here your mother is convinced you need to know about how many gnomes she found in the garden this morning. I'm actually afraid of what will happen when you're all grown up and she won't be able to spend all day worrying about you anymore. Don't tell her I said this but I highly recommend scanning her letters, there's nothing important in them. But for Merlin's sake write back! Can't wait til summer, really. -Dad_

"Good old Dad." Lily said. Harry's letter were always littered with a humor that took a certain taste. His children always appreciated his straightforward statements and his amusement at Ginny's anxiety.

"He's right, we should probably make her a retirement plan for when we're not around anymore." James said, looking through his mother's rants without interest, "Seems like all she's done for the past 16 years is worry about us."

"Shame, just think of it, someday she won't have anyone to worry about!" Albus said sarcastically. James looked at the last page of his mother's letter.

"Dad never really says that he misses us." He said, "Always about how silly mum is to be concerned."

"He's more used to being independent, maternal instinct is just something he can't understand very much." Rose said, "I heard my Mum talking about it once. She said that Aunt Ginny was a born Mother, and Uncle Harry was a born vigilante. He's had to work for all the love he ever got, and that was a long time coming. Mum says he doesn't really know what a proper childhood is like, so he doesn't get as personal about it than other people."

"Your Mum is a bit of a brown-noser." James informed her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ella and I were talking about coming to watch you play Quidditch today." Lily said. Rain, sleet, or snow Lily loved to watch Quidditch practice. She loved everything about it and never missed a game, she'd even brave a blizzard just to watch a practice. And of course, Ella always came with her. Ever since she was little her Dad and Uncle Ron took them all to Chudley Cannon games, they were all devoted fans. But lately Lily was the one who had the most interest in going, Uncle Ron had big plans for her.

"I don't even want to go to Quidditch." Rose complained, "It's hard to grip the bat when your fingers are frozen together."

"Don't give Ace an excuse to kick you off." James warned. The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, a 7th year named Ace Warren, was not often on good terms with the outspoken Rose Weasley. They were both too strong minded to get along very well, and if Rose hadn't shined like a supernova at tryouts it was doubtful he would have let her on the team. But then again...no one put it past Rose to take her beater's bat to anyone who tried to make her leave.

"Ace Shmace." Rose mumbled, sinking into her seat.

* * *

"Don't tell me how to do my job and I won't tell you how to do yours."

"But you do tell me, it's part of your job! So back off!"

"I think I'm the one who knows best."

"What on earth makes you think that?"

"I think the fact that _I'm_ the captain may have something to do with it!" Rose and Ace were at it again. They were both on their brooms, floating some 175 yards above the ground, Rose waved her Beater's Bat around threateningly, Ace just looked at her over his upturned nose. The rest of the team sat on their brooms behind them, all with bored postures. Rose and Ace were constantly at each other's throats. James and the other Chasers, Luke Syphon and Amy Vane, relaxed on their brooms. Amy stretched out to lay on hers, Luke leaned forward on his arms, James leaned back and crossed his legs. Rose's fellow Beater, E.G Jordan was swatting at bees with his Beater's Bat. Their Seeker, Demi Case, was a bit behind Rose, trying to perfect her nose dive. Lily, Ella, and Albus sat in the stands, Albus with his head on his arm in disinterest, Lily watched Demi's nose dives with fascination, and Ella sat watching nothing at all.

"You've barely even seen a Beater outside of this school, we save your butt all the time and we're pretty good at it! I think that if I was doing something wrong _someone_ would have a lot more broken bones." Rose argued.

"You wouldn't." Ace challenged, narrowing his eyes. E.G saw Rose's fingers tighten on her bat and flew up next to her, James saw and followed.

"Come on Ace, give her a break." E.G said while James grabbed the front of his cousin's broom to keep her from advancing on their disagreeable keeper. "She's a bloody good beater, let her find her own way around. And Rose," He turned to the short-tempered red-head, "Be nice, you don't know how to be a keeper, leave him alone about it. Both of you just knock it off so we can practice." The others gathered around hopefully.

Rose was the youngest on the team, the only third year. Luke Syphon was a fourth year, he was middle eastern looking and he kept his black hair shaved off. His eyes, however, were an oddly mixed green-brown. Demi was also a fourth year and a Quidditch Prodigy. She kept her chocolate brown hair in braids and twists to keep it out of her freckled face, her shoulders were broad, her face was soft, her almost-yellow eyes showed no mercy. Amy was a fifth year, her golden blond hair was long and well kept, she was skinny and pretty and she could fly faster than anyone. Her blue eyes were framed by long lashes and she was always one of the first to come to Rose's defense. She often accused Ace of being sexist, which he often was, and she didn't stand for injustice. James was the only sixth year, Ace and E.G were both seventh years.

Rose and Ace glared at each other for another moment before Rose yanked her broom out of James's grip and flew down the field with a muttered, "When _I'm_ Quidditch captain..."

"I hope she gets the top job next year." Amy told James as they walked off the field a little later.

"Why?" Demi asked, coming up on James's other side.

"Because she's a little leader, she's stubborn and determined to boot. What else can you ask for in a good captain?"

"I was kind of thinking James was gonna get it." Demi said.

"Me?" James asked, shocked, "How so?"

"Mostly because you're the next oldest." She answered with a shrug, "But you'd be pretty good at it. It's in your blood, after all."

"There's a lot of things 'in my blood'." James demurred.

"You know what's in my blood? Farming and drinking." Amy said flatly, patting James on the arm, "Don't worry about it." James smiled at her gratefully, sometimes it was so easy to like Amy, sometimes she didn't seem like she was only 15.

"Will you come eat with us at dinner?" Demi asked. Amy and Demi were pretty good friends, they always sat together with a big group of 'friends'. They often asked James to join them, but he had other people to sit with.

"You've got enough people to forget about eating with you." He said. Amy smiled ruefully.

"I don't really know half of them." She confided, "I feel like I met a couple of them, and then the swarm started."

"It's because you draw people to you. You should work on that." James said. Demi and Amy both laughed.

"I'll do that." Amy said. "Your loss though. We'll miss you, see you next practice."

* * *

That night at dinner James was sitting with a frown. Rose waved her hand across his face.

"Earth to James?"

"Sorry." He muttered, turning back to his plate. Rose and Albus looked at each other.

"Hey James, if you wanted to apply a recognition charm on an object..." Albus started.

"I wouldn't know where to begin. You know I'm not very good at charms." James looked up moodily, his gaze traveled down the table to where Fiona and Landon were sitting, completely absorbed in a conversation and oblivious to all else. Rose followed his gaze.

"You miss her." Rose accused softly.

"Not a chance." James said, glaring at her. He sighed, "I just feel like I need something completely new."

"Like starting over?" Albus asked, "Well you've still got us, and Millie."

"Millie." James mused then shook his head, "Not enough."

"So...who should I ask this charm question?" Albus said, single-minded as ever.

"I don't know." James said grumpily. Then something caught his eye, two blue eyes met his from down the table. Amy Vane raised her eyebrows invitingly, there was an open seat between her and Demi. "Excuse me." James said to Albus, Rose, Lily and Ella. He then stood and went to sit next to Amy.

He had been wrong about one thing, Fiona wasn't oblivious to anything. Especially Amy's invitation...and his acceptance...

* * *

**I know teamwork is one word, but I did that because the chapter isn't about teamwork, it's about the team, get it?**

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	12. The History Of Harry Potter

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 12. The History Of Harry Potter_  
**

Lily sat at the end of a study table in the library. Albus and Rose had covered the entire table with books about Spells and Rules. They had practically pulled every Charm reference book off the shelves and were pouring over them. They had scrolls upon scrolls of parchment filled with scribbled not since this was how they had spent a lot of their time in the past couple of weeks. After coming up with their "Legacy" idea the two had gone about it the practical way; trying to make it possible.

"I'm bored." Lily complained, watching her brother and cousin unhappily.

"Then go hang out with Ella, where is she anyway?" Rose asked, looking around for Lily's shadow.

"Professor McGonagall called her into her office. But why can't we do something fun?" Lily added.

"Because we're too busy." Albus replied simply.

"What class are you doing homework for, again?" Albus and Rose exchanged glances.

"All of them." Albus answered her, returning to his work, his brow furrowing with mild frustration. Rose looked at him for a moment and smiled; Albus was upset that he couldn't find what he was looking for, but that only made the chase for knowledge more exciting.

"Please? Can't we do something else just today?" Lily begged.

"Look, if you're so bored why don't you pick out a book to read?" Rose said guiltily. Lily made a sound that sounded a lot like a "Humph" and stopped off the the Biography section. She pulled books partway out by their corners and pushed them back in. After a few minutes Albus and Rose had returned to their research and Lily paused in her search, pulling out four books and carrying them over to the table.

"Look! There's a whole shelf of Dad's biographies." She said. They'd all read a few Harry Potter books, but there were so many and they were always different. Lily made it a goal of hers to read all of them. All of the others weren't as keen, to them he was Dad or Uncle Harry. It was only the rest of the world that saw him as the great Harry Potter. Lily opened the first book and dust fell off it's binding. "This one's old, look it was written before he'd even gone to Hogwarts, he was just a legend back then. Imagine that, a Legend!" She scanned the book and put it down, picking up the next one. "This one was written after school, after fulfilling the prophecy and all that. Look how much thicker it is, I bet this one's interesting." She scanned it and put it down to pick up the last one, "And this was the most recent, it's like they keep updating the world around his life. Ooh, we're in this one! Look!"

"Here, just read it to us." Rose suggested. Lily settled the book on her lap.

"'Now a great Ambassador with the Ministry of Magic, the great Harry Potter married his Hogwarts sweetheart Ginny Weasley. They now have three children: James Sirius Potter, who will this year be starting his sixth year at Hogwarts; Albus Severus Potter, who will this year be starting his third year at Hogwarts; and Lily Luna Potter, who will this year be embarking on her first year at Hogwarts. So far the Children have not privileged anyone with an interview on their view of their father and his deeds. Supposedly, now he's just a father and a husband. But we all ask, is it possible? Can the boy who was born a legend grow up to become a family man? Most people don't think so. With his deeds still ongoing and his biographies still be written and the way the whole country is buzzing about his upcoming chance to become the Minister of Magic...a family man? I don't think so.'" Lily stopped and looked up at Rose and Albus, who were now completely oblivious to their books and staring at Lily with open-mouthed shock.

"Dad's going to be Minister of Magic?" Albus asked in a choked voice.

"They said chance. Chance as in everyone wants him to, and he certainly has a shot." Rose said.

"But he's Dad." Lily said, "We shouldn't have to read about him in a book! Why don't we get to know if our father is running for the most important office in the country?"

"I just can't see it." Albus said quietly.

"That's because he's your father." Rose said flatly, "You don't see him any other way, he's a hero to you just because he's your father. To you, to us, he's a person. You never see him as that heroic boy that defeated great evil once and for all. I think he could do it, but he's made for it. Look at his track record, he survived an attack when he was one, he met evil again and again, he eventually defeated it and saved the whole world. Drama surrounds everything he did in that time, it's so interesting, but then you'd expect it would all die down a bit. But look at him now, an Ambassador. He handles international affairs, he represents England and prevent incidents, he's got the Ministry in the palm of his hand already. He's a natural born leader and seen as just this force that keeps the world safe."

"That's not our Dad." Lily said sadly, Albus nodded.

"That's Harry Potter: The Chosen One." He agreed.

"Well, like it or not they're the same person. The Chosen One read you bedtime stories and your Dad killed the greatest Dark Wizard of all time." Rose informed them, returning to her notes.

"Shh!" Madame Pince appeared at the end of the row and held her claw-like finger to her lips sternly. They all looked down and she moved on.

"I swear, hasn't she got to be over a hundred years old by now?" Lily asked under her breath. Rose and Albus stifled their laughs. Lily took the more recent of her book choices and settled into her chair, starting the story of her family right from the beginning. Lily liked Harry Potter books because she saw it as her family history, it started when the Legend started. But she also liked how a Harry Potter story was never just a Harry Potter story. His life was entwined in so many others that you learned about a lot of people from a single book. In this book you learned about Harry Potter, James Potter, Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, Frank Longbottom, Rubeus Hagrid, Tom Riddle, Ginny Weasley, Igor Karkaroff, Mad-Eye Moody and more. Many of them had died before Lily got to meet them, but not all of them. And sometimes when she was reading about them she liked to pretend that they had met, that all of these important people knew that she was connected to them and not just another school girl. She tried to take every bit of it personally.

"This doesn't work." Rose whispered to Albus when Lily was too distracted to listen, "I can't find a way that would get a recognition charm to stick on an inanimate object and still be able to work without constant instruction."

"Maybe," Albus sucked in a breath, "Maybe we should ask for a bit of help." Rose turned to the end of the row to keep lookout while Albus kneeled on the table and shifted books around to look through a gap. "Felicia!" He whispered. Felicia Massengil had been studying on the other side of the shelf, she looked up when she heard her name. Felicia was a serious student, possibly the smartest person in the school. Her brown-red hair was shoulder length, often with a chunk braided at the side of her head. Her eyes were an unremarkable brown and her face was plain. All in all Felicia was simple, it was her intelligence that made her stick out from the crowd. Albus put his hand up to his face and gestured for her to come closer. Felicia stood and walked to the stack, looking at him through the gaps with a puzzled expression. "I was wondering if you could help. See, we want to put a recognition charm on an object, so that it'd be able to have some kind of memory."

"In what sense?" Felicia asked, interested.

"In a sense that it'd be able to remember a single feature after hearing it once and can apply it in the future."

"That's really complicated for a third-year's assignment." Felicia said shrewdly. Albus grinned at her.

"You're telling me. Do you want to help or not?" He asked. It was the perfect question, Felicia couldn't bare to deny someone help when they asked outright. She nodded. Felicia walked back to her table and shuffled through the parchment until she found a certain part of her notes. She put it in her robes pocket and walked over to the restricted section. People like Felicia who took every advanced course in the book were allowed a pass into the restricted section at any time. She picked out a book and went to sign it out. She returned to her table and put it under a stack of books which she carried to Rose and Albus's study table. She plopped them down and moved the top ones until the bottom one was revealed. Felicia took her notes and scribbled some page numbers on the top.

"I was looking into this kind of thing a while ago, but I don't really find anything interesting enough that I'd want to apply it to. You can use the notes and this book, I've written some important passages at the top." She looked at the shelf and pulled off another Charms book that Albus had already looked over, "There's pieces in here too, but only after you've worked everything else, the spell would have to combine a few of these but please understand it before physically doing it." She wrote down a few more page numbers and stuck the paper in the book, taking both books and dropping them into Rose's bag. "If you need any more help just ask, and good luck. Oh, and if you get caught with this book, you took it from my dormitory, or maybe you found it. Make it up but just remember: I had no part in this." She drew herself up and walked back to her study table.

"See." Rose told Albus, "She doesn't bite, that wasn't so bad." Albus just shrugged.

* * *

That evening the Common Room was crowded. James sat on the couch with Amy and Millie, Demi sat in the armchair next to them. Amy and Demi were discussing Quidditch, that day at practice Rose and Ace had another show down and Amy was questioning Ace's leadership skills.

"What kind of Captain can you be if your own team doesn't respect you?" She asked.

"The kind with a big head." Demi said with a smile, "He got it because he was the most experienced."

"But he's running the team into the ground." Amy complained. Millie watched them debate, impressed by the triviality of something so glorified as Quidditch. James listened to them through one ear, not entirely in the conversation. "James, who do you think would win in a fight; Ace or Rose?" Amy asked him. He didn't hear her. "James?" She asked, following his gaze. He had been distracted by the sight of Fiona and Landon in the window. Landon was smiling, Fiona was laughed as she sent little tunnels of wind out of her wand at E.G's kitten, who swatted at the air playfully.

"James?" Demi said. His head snapped back to his present company.

"Sorry." He said quickly, "I was thinking about this thing in Alchemy."

"Oh, I love Alchemy." Amy said with feeling, James stared at her.

"Really?"

"Of course! What's not to love about it? Everything you ever wanted to know, explained right there!" She smiled. James continued to stare at her. "What?" She asked self-consciously, "Is there something on my face?"

"No. Sorry, I just...Alchemy is my favorite subject." He said.

"Mine too! I'm even looking into taking an advanced course next year with Professor Alvie."

"I take that class." James said, "It's really interesting." Amy leaned forward in interest.

"Really? Because I'm thinking about other classes too so maybe it'd be easier if I just take the regular class..."

"You could do that." James said, "Or you could do what you want, if it's what you really want you should go for it."

"I guess I'll talk to McGonagall about it, then." Amy said cheerfully. Across the room Fiona had begun to lose interest in her game with the kitten. She pointed her wand at the cat and sent jets of air at it until it swatted at her wand. With a flick of her wand the kitten's claws were stuck to the ground, Fiona looking at him with silent discipline.

"You're loosing you're focus." Landon commented when the kitten was released and playing again, "You shouldn't have let it get that close. What's on your mind." Fiona snuck another glance at the couch near the fire.

"It's just a little...bizarre to think about." She said.

"What is?" Landon asked, following her gaze uncomprehendingly.

"Just the beginning of this year, just a couple of months ago it was me and James sitting over here by ourselves and you were in the center of that cluster of girls." She said. Landon looked back to where James was sitting.

"Not those girls." He said indifferently. Fiona's eyes snapped to his.

"What do you mean?" She demanded.

"The girls he's sitting with, they were never in my fan club."

"Your fan club?" Fiona repeated in amusement. Landon nodded.

"Yup, James has got one now too, see? But he's getting along with them a lot better than I did. He makes friends easy, James does." Landon returned to watching the kitten, who was now spinning in circles, waiting for the next bit of wind to come. Fiona didn't even notice, she was staring at James and Amy, leaning toward each other with eager smiles.

"Gold digger." She muttered. She only said it to make her self feel better, if Amy had been a real gold digger she would have been attached to Landon and then James. Amy was pretty, Amy was smart, Amy played Quidditch. Fiona didn't like her.

* * *

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	13. Welcome To The Family

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 13. Welcome To The Family_  
**

The next morning Fiona walked up the where Albus, Rose, Lily and Ella were sitting at breakfast. She had a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in her hand and a frown on her face.

"Did you see this?" She asked them, throw the _Prophet_ on the table in the middle of them. Calmly, Rose took it and shook it out, peering at the front page. "Page 6." Fiona said. Rose opened the newspaper and disappeared behind a moving picture of Gringotts. She lowered the paper a little and Albus and Lily saw her eyebrows shoot up as she scanned the page.

"What is it?" Lily asked, leaning forward.

"It's your dad." Rose answered, spreading the paper out on the table. Fiona sat next to her as they all observed the picture of Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic, shaking hands with the Australian Minister. The heading read _Potter Accepts of Pleas of Campaign_.

"What does that mean?" Lily asked.

"It means he's running for Minister." Albus answered grumpily, "Thanks a lot, Dad."

"What's wrong with that?" Fiona asked, "Would it be brilliant if your dad was Minister?"

"Sure it would, if we'd had any idea it was happening. Were they going to tell us? Or did they just expect us to come home in the summer for a surprise? Maybe they wanted us to find out from other people."

"They're pretty private, your parents." Rose said, leaning over the rest of the article.

"No they aren't." Albus argued, then he thought about it for a minute, "Not Mum, anyway."

"I think you're all looking at the situation wrong." Fiona said, "It's a good thing, your dad's going to be the Minister of Magic! That's the point."

"That's _not_ the point. That's not even close to the point." A voice said from behind them. Fiona and Rose turned to see James standing there, hands on hips, brows furrowed. Fiona stood awkwardly as Rose folded up the newspaper. When it was refolded she handed it to Fiona who took it and walked off without a goodbye. James took her empty seat.

"I wanted to finish reading that." Rose told him sourly.

"She doesn't get it!" James said angrily, "What he does isn't nearly as important as what he says. We're his children, we deserve to know before the rest of the world. We shouldn't have to read about our father in the _Prophet_!"

"Agreed." Rose said cautiously. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"What do you mean?" James asked, caught off-guard.

"What are you going to do about it? Your father, one of the most important people in your life didn't tell you something that was going on in his life. You had to find it out from someone else. What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing." James snapped, "I can't control him. I can't make him stop, and he's still my Dad."

"I forgive him." Lily said.

"Huh?" James was caught off-guard again. Lily nodded and pushed some food around on her plate.

"Yup. I forgive him. I'm sure he didn't mean to. Plus, he was Harry Potter the singular person long before he was our father. He looks after himself and has his own business, everyone has things that are their own business. And he still loves us, I still love him, he's still the same. It's all for the best anyway, imagine if we told him he couldn't run, he'd give up his dream just because of us. What could possibly be bad about it?" She said.

"That's very practical." Rose complimented.

"I forgive him." Albus said quietly.

"You too?" James complained.

"James, he's our dad. We can either forgive him for leaving something out or spend the rest of our lives being mad at him about it. I don't want to give up whatever we might do in that time, I don't want to be mad at him forever." Albus shrugged, "It's not worth it."

"But he lied!" James argued.

"Everyone lies." Lily scoffed.

"And that's bad." James told her forcefully.

"Yes it is." Albus agreed, "But you can't control other people. Other people can't control you."

"Technically he didn't even lie. He probably wanted to tell you." Rose said, "He's your dad, he's always got your best interests at hand because he loves you."

"If he loves us he wouldn't have lied." James insisted.

"You're right." Rose replied, becoming annoyed, "If he really, _really_, loved you he'd be perfect." James stared at her.

"I can't forgive them." James said, slipping into a plural.

"It's easy to be angry." Albus said.

"Whatever." James walked away. He sat by himself for a couple of minutes before Amy and Demi entered the great hall and sat by him.

"How's it going?" Amy asked.

"Fine." James mumbled.

"Doesn't sound fine." Amy said, she slipped a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in front of him, "Did you hear that your dad might be the next Minister of Magic?"

"Popular topic." He said.

"Well, how do you feel about it?" Amy asked.

"That's not nearly as popular a topic." James answered, "He didn't tell us. We have to find out about our father the same way everyone else does, it just feels so impersonal."

"Agreed." Demi said at once, "My dad writes me all the time, telling me even the most unimportant things."

"That's how my mother is." James told them. Demi grinned.

"Pain in the rump, isn't it?" She asked shrewdly. James nodded.

"What are your parents like?" James asked Amy, Amy leaned forward and rested her chin on her palm.

"They're farmers." She said dazedly, "They both work really hard, my Dad's always really busy, but he's a decent fellow. My family has a history of sons needing to fetch their fathers out of bars at ages as early as seven. My dad had to go get his dad and drag him back to the house because he was too drunk to see."

"That's horrible." James said.

"But here's what's really wonderful about it;" Amy continued, brightening, "When my dad was dragging Granddad around town he swore that he wouldn't end up like that, he swore to change and protect his family, the tradition stopped with him. And it did, it's really inspiring. So now he's a hard worker, like he has to make up for his future generations. And my Mum is real funny because she used to have ambition, lots of it. She always knew was she wanted and went for it with a full heart. 'Romilda was the stubbornest lass I'd ever laid eyes on' my dad used to say when he told me their story. I got a bit of that, me never backing down and always picking arguments just because I don't want to be wrong."

"Stubborn can be a good thing." James assured her.

"As long as you don't overuse it." Amy corrected him, "Otherwise it's downright obnoxious."

"Any siblings?" James asked the both of them, becoming interested in finding out more about his new friends.

"None for me." Amy said.

"Two brothers." Demi answered, "Hanson is a fourth year, he's in Hufflepuff. Don't tell him I told you, he doesn't think we should acknowledge each other in public, it's a fun game. And then there's Mickey, he'll be two in April."

"Hanson, Demi, and Mickey. You're parents pick interesting names." James commented. Demi laughed.

"Yes! See, I was supposed to be a boy, and my parents were planning on naming me Demetri. When they found out I was a girl they didn't have a backup plan so they just named me Demetra, but I've been going by Demi since before I can remember." She said as she laughed.

"Do you mind? Being named Demetra and being expected as a boy?" James inquired.

"Not at all, I actually think it's really posh. Demetra, how many Demetras do you meet in your life? I love names!" Demi hugged herself and looked at the ceiling as James and Amy laughed at her.

"Your parents must have been flexible." Amy commented, "My mother was so stubborn she wouldn't take my father's name when they got married." They all laughed again. "Are you going to tell us about your family?" Amy asked James.

"Everyone knows about my family." He grumbled.

"In theory." Amy replied, "But it's always different from a child's point of view. We may know names and dates but we don't know what they're actually like."

"Yeah." Demi agreed. James looked at them as though they had backed him into a corner.

"Well...My younger brother, Albus, he's brilliant but he thinks too much. He just runs scenarios in his head over and over and never does anything with his talents. That's why he hangs around our cousin Rose, she's the one who makes him act on his thoughts. Lily is a goofball, she's been waiting to come to Hogwarts since she was born, she loves Quidditch and she's outgoing. My Mum worries a lot, she's always concerned about one thing or another, but she's got great domestic instincts, she learned them from Grandmum. And my Dad is a fun person, he's great to be around in the summer, playing Quidditch out back and laughing over a sunset feast in the garden. But he's secretive, he's been raised to look out for number one, I guess it isn't the worst thing that can happen."

"Not at all." Amy said at once. She glanced around at the emptying dining hall. "We should get to class." She said, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. James and Demi followed. James was in a considerably better mood than he had been when coming down to breakfast, Amy and Demi were good at cheering him up. As they exited the dining hall Amy got excited about the upcoming Quidditch game, she jumped around the entrance hall and came to rest by latching on to James's arm and leaning her head on his shoulder, grinning up at him. They all walked up the staircase. Fiona had been about to round the corner on the first floor when she saw them exit, she waited there until they were out of sight, she watched them all uneasily. She walked over to the doors of the great hall and waited there until Rose and Albus walked out.

"I need to talk to you." She said, pulling Rose by the arm into a nearby empty classroom.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked ever sympathetically.

"James," Fiona said, "Did I just see him with Amy Vane and Demi Case?" Rose nodded affirmative.

"They've been spending a lot of time together lately." Rose added, "They get along really well, they've got so many things in common. They all play Quidditch, Amy's favorite subject is Alchemy, Demi's got two siblings and a fussy parent"

"And you think it's going well? How does James feel about it?" Fiona pressed.

"I think it's going great, he likes spending time with them, they're good at making him feel better."

"That's good." Fiona said slowly. Rose watched her friend with a concerned expression.

"How about you? Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"Me? I'm fine. He's happy, so that's good, that's all I wanted to know." She said.

"Fi..." Rose started, Fiona smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm great! I'm just looking out for you guys, force of habit." She assured her, Rose turned with a doubtful look and left. As the door closed behind her Fiona's face fell, her happy mask falling to bits. She sat down on a desk and stared at nothing in particular, the fact that she was late for class was the last thing on her mind.

* * *

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**I love you guys. Remember: MAY 31st!  
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* * *

**This one took longer than it should to write. I must be losing my touch XD**

**Also, this is the last chapter I have prewritten, so I expect that it will take longer to get the chapters out from now on.  
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**EPIC PLEASE  
REVIEW!**

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	14. Quidditch Match

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 14. Quidditch Match_  
**

"What were you doing in there?" Landon asked as Fiona came out of an empty classroom a couple of days later. She closed the door quickly and flashed a false smile.

"Nothing, I forgot my quill." She said. Landon pushed past her and opened the door to the classroom, he looked around and saw Rose Weasley sitting on a desk in the front row facing the door. Fiona came up next to him guiltily.

"Hello Rose." Landon said politely.

"Landon." Rose answered, standing and beginning to inch toward the door.

"Go on then." Landon ordered, Rose scampered out of the room and Landon closed the door behind her, he turned back to Fiona, "You forgot your quill?"

"No. I didn't, I'm sorry. Are you mad?" Fiona asked timidly.

"Mad?" Landon seemed surprised, "Fiona, I'm concerned. Skulking around, pumping Rose for information about your friends, not telling anyone about it. Do you think that's healthy?"

"It's not _un_healthy." His girlfriend stammered.

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do. And I'm not trying to tell you to stay out of their lives." Landon leaned on a desk and cuddled Fiona into his chest, wrapping his arms around her, "But last time you got in a spat with James you were devastated, and I know you haven't gotten over it. I just think you should be careful, don't do anything that would bring you further away from them."

"What's the point? They hate me anyway." Fiona moaned.

"Obviously not Rose, not Michelle, not Lily. And I honestly don't think that you and James are done being friends forever yet. But if you push your luck things will never get better."

"I'm just looking out for them. It's sort of a habit."

"Well, that's good." Landon kissed the top of her head, "Imagine if you just stopped caring."

"Never."

* * *

The Quidditch team was sitting in the dressing room, waiting for the game that Saturday to begin. All seven of the Gryffindor players were dressed in thick crimson and gold robes. Demi adjusted her gripping gloves, Amy adjusted the hat on her head, Rose crossed her arms in aggravation as Ace tried to give a pre-game speech.

"Is anyone listening?" Ace demanded at last, glaring at his audience. E.G, who had been joking with Luke, looked at Rose and shrugged.

"Guess not." Demi sang under her breath, Ace's head snapped to her.

"Don't try my patience, I'm about two breaths away from suspending all of you."

"What'd I do?" Luke asked innocently, making E.G snicker in a way that made the others think that the two of them had been making fun of Ace in their hushed conversation.

"You wouldn't suspend all of us." James said from between Demi and Amy, "You can't rebuild an entire Quidditch team on such short notice, especially this late in the year."

"Plenty of people were good enough to make the team at tryouts." Their captain insisted.

"Now you just have to remember who they are." E.G pointed out.

"Lily Potter." Ace said, "She's just a first year, but with a little training she can play any position."

"She's also my sister." James said lazily, "Do you think having her around would be so much better than having me around?"

"Kara Lovell. She'd be a good chaser."

"I've never heard of her." Amy said dazedly.

"Cory Nickleson." Ace continued, his face reddening.

"Isn't he that kid who always freaks out when the teachers call on him?" Rose asked smugly, "He threw a book at me once."

"The makings of a great beater!" E.G joked.

"Parin King."

"He didn't even stay on his broom at tryouts." Demi said.

"Fiona Finnegan." Ace spat, his eyes focused first on James, then Rose, "She'd be a good Chaser, she can fly, and I'll bet she's competitive."

"She's also dating Landon Longbottom." Amy said before James or Rose could reply, "Which means that she spends all of her free time behind locked doors doing who knows what with the school's bad boy. She'd never make it to practice, never try out, never give you any reason to think you could win. You can trust that girl about as far as you can throw her, and you know that Gryffindor wouldn't appreciate it if you draft the school tramp to the beloved Quidditch team."

"Fiona is not a tramp." Rose said forcefully, looking at James for support. He was sitting, looking at Amy with narrowed eyes. Part of him wanted to protect Fiona from Amy's gossip, he'd never heard her called a tramp before but now that it was said he had no doubt it would spread around, and another part of him wanted her to suffer, didn't want to disagree with Amy.

"Look, I just hear things around." Amy said with a shrug, "I mean, it's no secret that you can't be with Landon Longbottom without putting out."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Rose insisted.

"I've heard that, too." Demi added quietly. Rose looked scandalized.

"Now the game..." Ace started.

"No one cares!" The fourth-year snapped. She looked at her cousin, "James?" The room looked at him expectantly. James opened his mouth, then closed it, then repeated the process several times without making a sound. Rose's eyes hardened as she watched him flounder indecisively.

"Rose..." He finally croaked.

"Save it!" Rose told him angrily. She stood up and stormed out of the dressing room onto the field.

"The Captain is supposed to go out first!" Ace shouted, charging after her. Slowly, the rest of the team made their way up and out, but James held back, his mind felt waterlogged.

"You okay?" E.G asked carefully. James looked up at him, E.G's eyes were guarded and his mouth half twisted up in a disgusted expression. E.G had practically been a cousin to the Potters and the Weasleys, not to mention Fiona.

"Yeah, I'm fine." James said quickly, "And don't look at me like that, you didn't say anything either!"

"Wasn't my best friend. Also Luke and I are planning a royal prank that will hopefully disable Ace from playing Quidditch...ever."

"She's _not_ my best friend." James grumbled, E.G just raised his eyebrows.

"Deny it all you like, but you've got a history."

"That doesn't matter."

"Well, I guess I just thought that someone who valued loyalty so much wouldn't let down someone he ever cared about." E.G said with a shake of his head. He walked out of the dressing room, James trailing behind him.

The Quidditch team was in complete disarray, playing one of the worst games in years. They could score, couldn't work together, couldn't concentrate. Oddly, the only thing keeping them afloat that game was Ace's vanity. He'd be trampled by Wildebeests before letting the team lose to Hufflepuff, he saw the team falling apart around him and stepped up his game, blocking everything that came his way. James moved out to get open for a pass from Amy and a Bludger whizzed by his head, he turned on his broom and saw Rose in the direction the Bludger came from.

"Watch it, Rose!" James yelled. She shrugged and flew higher.

"James!" Luke shouted, James turned a little too slowly to catch the pass, it started dropping and the other team intercepted it.

"What is up with you guys today?" One of the Hufflepuff chasers asked James curiously, James just glared at him.

"And they've spotted the snitch! Look at those Seekers go!" The announcer shouted. James looked around to see Demi and the Hufflepuff Chaser, a fifth-year named Robert Locke, neck-in-neck in a chase after a little glint of gold. Next thing he knew there was contact of something hard and round in his side. He was knocked several yards sideways, the wind knocked out of him. Thankfully, the ball was off-angle and didn't give out as much impact as it could have. James grasped onto his broom and gasped for breath, feeling a bruise beginning to spread. Amy flew up to him.

"Would you pay attention?" She demanded, "You're a sitting duck when you're gawking after the snitch!"

"I just wanted to see it." James hissed through gritted teeth.

"If you want to see the Snitch become a Seeker. Get your head in the game!" She flew down, chasing after the Quaffle as it once again changed hands. James sucked in a ragged breath and started to fly again.

"You're hurting my hand." Landon said to Fiona, nudging her to get her attention. Fiona took her eyes off the game for a moment to look at their intertwined hands. Her knuckles were white and holding on to Landon's nearly-bloodless fingers in a death grip.

"Sorry." She muttered, taking her hand from his, seeing that a majority of it was purple. He flexed his fingers a couple of times to return the bloodflow. "Do you think he'll be alright?" Fiona asked. She'd been tense the entire game, and she had barely breathed since James got hit by the Bludger.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Landon assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders. Fiona didn't look reassured, she watched the game with watery eyes, refusing to blink. Next to her, Lily was shouting encouragement to Demi, Albus was frowning in concern, Ella was expressionless as ever. Albus watched curiously as the team flew around, he had seen every practice and had never seen the team this disbanded. He couldn't help but notice Rose aim the Bludger at his brother, Rose had perfect aim, it couldn't have been an accident. Back on the field Amy single-handedly scored the first goal for the team.

"Goal! Gryffindor Chaser Amy Vane. Making the score 60-10 in favor of Hufflepuff!" The announcer shouted to cheers from the Gryffindor crowd.

"Look alive!" Amy shouted to James, tossing him the Quaffle. He caught it and began to make his way down the pitch, dodging the other Chasers. Amy saw one of the beaters lining up for a hit and flew underneath James. "James!" She called. He looked down and dropped the Quaffle to her, pulling his broom up just in time to avoid the Bludger.

"And it's Demi! It's Robert! It's Demi! It's Robert!" The announcer was saying as the break-neck race for the snitch continued.

"This is embarrassing." Rose stated, flying up to E.G.

"Maybe they wouldn't score so much if you aimed for their chasers instead of ours." He said before moving forward to launch a Bludger after the Quaffle, Rose pouted.

"Gryiffindor Chaser Amy Vane intercepts the Quaffle, she passes it to James Potter who takes it up the field. Another pass back to Amy Vane who...fake out! Another goal for Gryffindor! Hufflepuff leading 80-20."

"I might just take out the announcer." Rose muttered to herself in aggravation. E.G Flew up next to Rose again.

"Here, I'll take care of the Chasers. You try to take out Robert without hitting Demi." He ordered before flying back down again. Rose sat above the rest of the players, her eyes scanning the entire field, calculating the angles of the Bludgers and their movements. She launched one at one of the Beaters who was aiming at Demi and then sent another one hurtling toward the Seekers. Demi saw it coming and pushed her shoulder into Robert's, distracting him while pushing him toward it. At the last second she broke away from him and he was knocked from his broom. Not daring to take her eyes off the Snitch she pushed forward, reaching out, deaf to the realizing crowd's roar.

"And she's caught it! The Gryffindor Seeker Demi Case has caught the Snitch, awarding them 150 points bringing the total to 170-110. Gryffindor wins!" The crowd was stomping, cheering and booing. Gryffindors jumped up and down and hugged each other. Lily looked a little disappointed that the game was over but Fiona nearly fainted with relief. Ace was in the center of the field, cheering in front of his house. Luke and E.G were exchanging high fives, Rose flew straight to the ground and stormed off the field without saying anything to anyone, Albus started edging to the stairs to go meet her. Demi flew down to the ground where James and Amy were waiting for her, she was hugged by each of them, then she held the snitch up in victory as Amy and James hugged each other. Fiona watched with narrow eyes as Amy put her arm around his waist, and James slung his arms around her shoulders and they walked off the field together, Demi trailing behind them.

* * *

"He just didn't say anything." Rose told Albus as they trudged back up to the castle.

"Were you expecting him to?" Albus asked.

"Yes! I know it's just a rumor but it's horrible all the same!"

"He's still mad at her, that's all."

"He didn't even defend her, they were best friends."

"I'm sure he still cares."

"Maybe, but what he does isn't nearly as important as what he says. That's his own philosophy. So now...he _can't_ care."

"You don't agree with his philosophy." Albus pointed out.

"But he does, and I was hoping they'd work it out." Rose complained, kicking slush and snow out of her way.

"Me too, maybe they still will."

"They can't, now that he's gone and done that."

"He didn't _do _anything." The two stopped walking just outside the castle. Rose turned to look at Albus.

"So what do you really think?" She asked flatly. Albus thought about it for a minute.

"It's mean, it's downright _mean._ Because he shouldn't let her say that kind of thing about _anyone_, little lone Fiona." He said.

"And even when I put my neck on the line for her, he wouldn't even defend _me._ And I didn't do anything wrong...technically."

"Let's not get into it." Albus suggested, pushing the subject to the side. Rose silently walked through the doors into the entrance hallway and started her trek up to the Common Room, Albus followed her.

"I miss when everybody wasn't so touchy." Rose grumbled as she closed the portrait behind them.

* * *

**This chapter was a lot of fun to write. CONTEST STILL OPEN (I luvvv contests, so fun!) so enter for a chance to win. MAY 31ST.**

**I'm not going to draw the arrow this time, I'm sure you'll still be able to find the review button :)  
**


	15. Hopping Ship

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 15. Hopping Ship_  
**

The next day Rose and Albus sat across from Landon and Fiona at breakfast. Fiona raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise as Lily and Ella followed their lead.

"We aren't interrupting, are we?" Albus asked.

"Not at all, it'll be fun to talk about things now and then." Fiona answered with a pointed look at her quiet boyfriend, he grinned sheepishly. "But why are you talking to us all of a sudden? Won't you be shunned or something?"

"James won't be shunning anyone, I started it. I'm mad at him." Rose explained, casting a glare down the table where James was sitting with Amy, Millie, and Demi.

"Why?" Fiona asked. Lily opened her mouth to answered but Rose got there first.

"No big deal." She said, narrowing her eyes at the small redhead. Lily closed her mouth and nodded. "But I notice that James hasn't been talking to Michelle much lately."

"They weren't that close anyway." Fiona clarified, looking around for the friend in question, "I haven't seen much of her lately either, she's got a new boyfriend."

"Oh." The word was echoed around the group in comprehension.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip next week." Albus commented.

"Don't go!" Lily begged, making the older students laugh.

"We'll be back for you as early as we can." Fiona promised her small friend, happy to be talking to them again.

"Fi, we were hoping you could help us apply a charm..." Albus started. Rose looked at him in surprise, shaking her head the smallest amount.

"What is it?"

"Not here." Rose said under her breath.

"What are you up to?" Fiona demanded, looking between Albus and Rose. They both looked back at her with blank expressions. Finally, Fiona sighed, "We can talk about it tonight, Landon has detention again."

* * *

"A recognition charm?" Fiona asked. She was huddled up in the window seat with Albus and Rose, discussing the project in hushed voices.

"It's complicated, though." Albus said, "Recognition but being able to store the memory and then apply it later by means of a small verbal or written prompt."

"I don't know how to do that." Fiona told them.

"We do." Rose pulled out the notes from Felicia and handed them to Fiona, who read them over.

"Well...that _would_ work. But how did you figure this out? This is really advanced." She looked up to see them both look away from Felicia Massengil, whom they had been watching when they handed the notes to Fiona. Her mouth dropped open.

"Don't worry about it, she knew what she was doing and it isn't like we're going to do anything bad with it." Rose insisted.

"Have you thought about what you want to put his charm on?"

"We had a few ideas..." Albus started.

"Because you'd need something completely clean of magic, and something simple. It can't have words or designs, it has to be plain so the magic can stick. Basically it needs it's entire memory for the storage."

"It's inanimate, it doesn't have memory."

"But it _will_. Lots of it. My suggestion is a book, a parchment, maybe an empty bottle or something like that."

"All blank?" Rose asked, Fiona nodded.

"We'll get something in Hogsmeade." Albus assured her.

"What is this for, anyway?" Fiona asked them with a sisterly look in her eye.

"Fun." Albus said at once. Fiona raised her eyebrows and he clarified, "Haven't you ever tried something just to see if you can? And you'd have it be something great, something that people would remember. Challenging yourself is a way to get better so we figured we'd challenge ourselves with this."

"Challenge!" The older girl snorted, "This isn't a challenge, it's practically a grand feat!"

"That's why we have you." Rose said sweetly.

"I don't give into flattery." Fiona said, folding up the notes and handing them back to Albus, "But I'll help, if you really want me to. Pick up something blank and plain in Hogsmeade."

* * *

February 14th, the Valentine's Day trip to Hogsmeade. Students from the school bustled about, traveling from store to store quickly, their heads ducked down into their scarves to keep out the cold. A lot of people went to Three Broomsticks or Honeydukes first, ready to get out of the cold and into their favorite places. Fiona and Landon sat at a small table in the corner of the crowded pub, sipping on butterbeer.

"You realize that you spend more time in detention now than you would spend just doing the homework." Fiona was telling him.

"It's the principal of the thing." Landon said, leaning back in his chair and taking another swig from the warm bottle, "And anyway, at least you've got Rose, Albus, and Lily to spend time with now when I'm gone."

"And Ella." Fiona added.

"Oh. Right. Why do I always forget about her?"

"Because someone needs to make a big impression for you to care enough to remember them." His girlfriend said playfully, he nodded in acceptance.

"So you can't complain that you're sitting around by yourself."

"No." Fiona raised the bottle to her lips thoughtfully, "But I wonder why that is? James and Rose are hardly ever mad at each other. Sure, they're both strong willed and they argue plenty...but _mad_? And did you see at the Quidditch game? It was terrible, no one would work with anyone else. What's worse, Rose shot a Bludger straight at James."

"Uh-huh." Landon muttered, not really paying attention.

"I mean, I love being with them and everything but I'm worried. Obviously they won't stay mad for long. I don't know, maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of it."

"Maybe." Landon agreed distractedly. Fiona cut her eyes to him.

"Are you even listening?"

"Not really." He returned to his drink and Fiona sighed in disgust. When Landon looked up something caught his eye, "Speak of the devil." He said, gesturing toward the door. Fiona turned and looked to see James enter with (of course) Amy and Demi, Millie trailed in behind them. Demi was skipping around like an overexcited rabbit, getting distracted by everything and stopping to say hello at nearly every table. James and Amy watched her with looks of comfortable amusement and they stopped by the tables when Demi left them to mutter a more relaxed greeting. As Fiona watched Amy struggled to get her scarf away from her face, eventually she turned to look at James with pouty eyes, he laughed and helped her with the scarf. Amy stuck her tongue out at him and said something Fiona couldn't hear, James responded by wrapping the scarf back around her face and walking to the bar. Eventually, Demi joined him and Amy was right behind her. Millie was the last to get there but she didn't look like she was having much fun, as the others laughed and talked Millie looked around the pub, locking eyes with Fiona. The girl in the corner waved and Millie considered her for a moment before lifting her hand and waving back, then turning away as though embarrassed.

"Millie looks uncomfortable." Fiona commented, Landon didn't say anything but he agreed with her. The next time Millie scanned the room Fiona beckoned to her. The blond girl said something to others, whether or not they heard her was anyone's guess, and she came to sit next to Fiona, twisting her hands in her lap.

"I haven't seen you lately." Fiona said in a friendly manner, "I missed you!"

"Yeah, I know." Millie mumbled, staring at her hands, "How are you?"

"I'm okay, what about you?"

"Fine." But, of course, Millie would say that no matter what she was feeling.

"Amy and Demi, what do you think of them?" Fiona asked.

"Don't be a busybody." Landon complained, she sucker punched him in the arm and looked at Millie, waiting for an answer.

"They're okay, I don't really know them that well."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Fiona pressed, Millie had always been shy, but now she looked completely ashamed. The nervous girl shrugged noncommittally. "Millie." Fiona said seriously, Millie looked up, meeting her friend's eyes with obvious fear.

"I'm sorry, Fiona." She said.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" Fiona was confused, Landon looked away from his bottle with the first traces of interest.

"You know how James found out about Landon and Alchemy and the Trip over Christmas? It's because I told him, I promised I'd keep your secrets and then I told them to the one person you wanted to find out the least." Millie's eyes lowered back to her hands and Fiona's mouth dropped open, her eyebrows shooting up in shock. "I'm really, really sorry. I just felt so bad. He was so upset because he was going on about how you were lying to him, he wanted to know what else you were lying about, and how what you do isn't as important as what you say. I felt guilty, I felt that he had the right to know and if you didn't tell him I would, and I did because I wanted him to stop wondering."

"I...that's...err..." Fiona was at a loss for words. She had asked James who told him everything, never in a million years did she think it was _Millie_. Quiet, nice, polite, thoughtful, scared, shy _Millie_. It explained why she was ignoring her friends, and why she looked so scared of Fiona. "I'm not mad at you." Fiona said finally.

"What?" Now Millie was in shock, too, "You're allowed to hate me, you trusted me and I betrayed you."

"For the right reasons. You were right to tell him, I was really wrong and really stupid to keep it from him. You're a better friend than I am." Fiona said in a soft, calming voice, hoping to put Millie at ease. Millie, however, was still confused beyond reason.

"But I...you're trust!" Millie insisted, "How can you trust me after this?"

"Trust is more than just believing that people will do what you tell them to. When I told you not to say anything I wasn't just trusting your silence, I was trusting your judgment. You should never keep a secret that's hurting people, sometimes things need to come out. And look at you! You're taking stands and making choices! I'm so proud!" She leaned over and hugged Millie around the shoulders, "You're so shy, and now you're finally breaking out of your shell! Amelia Keen, the judge of right and wrong. That's great! You're improving."

"You shouldn't be this happy." Millie argued glumly, "I betrayed you. When I listened to James asking questions about how much he could trust from you, I could have reassured him. I would have kept both of you as friends and maybe you two would still be getting along. But I decided to choose one or the other and I chose him, but I didn't want to have to pick one or the other."

"Stop it. I'm really glad you told him. He deserved to know the truth, and you're still my friend even if you're still James's friend. And we wouldn't still be friends because he'd have to find out sometimes. In the end Michelle was right; the more I kept from him the more hurt he'd be when he found out. Thank you, it was actually really brave of you to tell the truth when I couldn't." Fiona put her hands over Millie's, forcing her to look up again. When their eye met Fiona smiled, "And you stepped out of your box, we've been trying to get you to open up more for years. I'm so happy for you! Here, let me buy you a butterbeer."

"I've got it." Landon insisted, giving Fiona a light peck before going up to the bar.

"I was so ready for you to hate me." Millie breathed.

"I know you were, but I don't want to hate you. I _could_ be mad at you, but what would that do? I understand why you did it, and it isn't worth our friendship."

"You're the best."

"Yes I am." Fiona joked, Millie finally smiled, relaxing into her seat and accepting the butterbeer when Landon returned with it.

"How are you two?" Millie asked.

"Still together." Landon answered with his famous almost-smile.

"Like an old married couple." Fiona agreed.

"I feel like I've missed a bunch of things, I don't know what's going on with anyone lately." Millie complained.

"Well, we're still together, James is still mad. Plus James is mad at his dad for running for Minister without informing them. Rose, Albus, and Lily recently hopped ships to start being with us more. Rose said that she's mad at James but refuses to say why. That's basically all I know on this end. What about you?"

"I don't know much, James get surly a lot. Amy always cheers him up, though. Sometimes I don't think she likes you very much, but that's just because she believes gossip. Other than that she's pretty nice, and Demi is fun. Also, Amy's favorite subject is Alchemy so I never hear the end of that." Millie scrunched up her nose and Fiona laughed.

"Oh no! Well, if you get sick of that you can come sit with us for a while, no Alchemy allowed." Millie smiled appreciatively. The door to Three Broomstick opened and Rose and Albus bustled in. They looked around until they spotted Fiona, Millie and Landon in the corner and they made a beeline for them.

"Hi!" Rose greeted all of them, she was the official greeter and small talker of the pair.

"We've just stopped in for a second, we're on our way back so Lily doesn't go crazy from loneliness." Albus snorted, "Anyway, Fi, we wanted to see if this would do." Rose dug through her bag and pulled out a small potion bottle. It was made of dark green glass, plainly shaped with a simple glass stopper sitting on the top. Fiona examined it for a minute.

"Should. Where'd you get it?" She asked.

"The Apothecary, we just came from there." Rose said as she took the bottle and put it back in her bag, "We can do the rest of this over the weekend, okay? We've got to go." The two took off too quickly for anyone to say goodbye.

"The Apothecary!" Fiona said suddenly, Millie and Landon looked at her uncomprehendingly. "Sorry Milllie, we've got to go, come on!" She dragged Landon to his feet and waved to Millie before dragging her boyfriend out the door into the snow.

* * *

Millie returned to James, Amy, and Demi. She doubted they noticed her absence, they never really did. She was quiet and they were talkative, but they always let her hang around so she usually did, even when they went off on rants about Quidditch (a game that Millie was never really able to understand). After they all finished their drinks they bundled up and headed back outside, on their way back to the castle. Before they got there they passed the Apothecary just as Fiona and Landon emerged. They were holding hands, and Fiona had a small brown paper bag clutched in her other hand.

"How romantic." Amy said sarcastically, watching them walk off toward Honeydukes. James just shrugged, trying hard not to look at the couple. They walked back, Demi skipping like always, Amy snuggling herself into James's arm when she got cold and Millie following just behind.

* * *

**I'm not going to draw the arrow on this one, I'm sure you can still find the Review button :) Not to mention there's still a contest going on...it doesn't end until May 31st (or June 1st, really, I never do stuff on time). See Chapter 13 for details.**


	16. Scaring Is Caring

**JAMES POTTER **

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 16. Scaring Is Caring_  
**

"You two are nuts." Fiona informed her two companions. Albus and Rose both stood with their wands extended, their tips resting against the top of the green potion bottle they had picked out earlier in the week. Fiona stood in the same position but her other hand was on her hip as she watched them.

"Are you gonna do it or not?" Albus asked simply, Fiona raised her eyebrows.

"Maybe."

"What do you mean, maybe? You said you'd help!"

"But first I need something from you two." Fiona removed her wand's tip from the bottle and crossed her arms, "Why are you mad at James?"

"None of your business." Rose said quietly, trying not to offend her.

"Like hell it isn't. If I'm going to help you do this I want to know what on earth happened to make you so upset." Rose bit her lip and Albus watched her cautiously, Fiona continued, "I'm just trying to look out for you, you know. All of you. How can I do that if you don't tell me what's wrong? You can tell me anything, why not this?"

"We didn't want to hurt you." Albus answered, earning a glare from his cousin.

"What?" Fiona sat on a stool behind her and crossed her legs, looking at Rose expectantly. Finally, the younger girl sighed and pulled back, pocketing her wand.

"He's such a hypocrite, James is." She said, "That day at the Quidditch Match, we were all kind of messed up. Ace said he'd replace all of us for being insubordinate and we said he couldn't. He started naming names and we started shooting them down. When he mentioned you Amy was the one who answered saying that you weren't dependable and you were dating Landon and how you were the school tramp and other things like that. I stuck up for you but James didn't say anything. He didn't even stick up for _me_! And since what you do isn't nearly as important as what you say...That's why I'm mad at him. The team wasn't working because James was distracted, Amy was too focused, Luke was mad at her for saying it, I was mad at James for keeping quiet and so was E.G. Then E.G was mad at me for hitting a bludger at him and...it was crazy."

"I'll say." Fiona commented dryly. Rose and Albus watched her absorb for a few moments apprehensively. After a while, Fiona stood up and placed her wand back on the bottle, "Okay then, let's do this." Rose and Albus followed her lead, looking at each other with confusion.

"That's it?" Rose asked.

"Yep. Well, not really," Fiona amended, "But that's all you need to know about it." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and read aloud: "_Seekus into here bottle memoir vocal and sight provoked, see and hear this bottle speak when spoken to it I am a name."_

_Gobbledgook_ Albus thought to himself, knowing the spell wouldn't make sense he tried to focus back on the magic but it was too late.

"Hey!" Fiona shouted, pulling back and effectively ending the spell. She caressed her hand, "Who lost focus? You can't do that!"

"Sorry." Albus mumbled, "But the words weren't making sense..."

"It's a spell, they aren't going to make sense!" Rose said in exasperation. Fiona examined the growing welt on her hand, it was red and irritated.

"C'mon, just don't do it again, let's try this from the top."

* * *

Fiona's entire hand was covered with red welts and bruises when she came down to dinner that night. She picked at her food, not feeling very hungry, actually she felt drained from the day's spells. Rose and Albus sat a few seats away, glancing at her guiltily. After a while, Fiona sighed and stood, bidding goodbye to Landon and leaving the dining hall. She stole into an empty classroom and dug through her bag, pulling out some bandages. She had placed them but not yet begun to wrap when the door opened and Amy Vane walked in. Fiona looked up, completely shocked, Amy looked the same way.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here." Amy said, looking at Fiona's wounds, "You know, Madam Pomfrey could heal those up in two seconds."

"Not these." Fiona replied simply. They were magic wounds from dabbling with power you didn't have, nothing would heal them before they were ready and she didn't need anyone asking about how she got them. Amy shrugged and turned to leave, "Wait a second!" Amy turned back. Fiona stood and walked closer while wrapping the bandage around her hand. Amy narrowed her eyes as the older girl approached.

"I've got things to do."

"This will only take a second." The Finnegan girl finished off the wrapping and looked up, meeting Amy's eyes and finding with pleasure that she was a few centimeters taller than the pretty blond. "So, I hear some things around school about you and James Potter." Amy pursed her lips and Fiona raised her hands, "It's no big thing, I'm not accusing you of anything, I actually think it's pretty great."

"Why do you think that?" The younger girl asked in surprise.

"I hear things about how you're good at cheering him up when he's upset. And he finally has someone to talk Alchemy with." She smiled, "I couldn't ever pull that off. It's good that he has someone."

"You aren't friends anymore." Amy snapped, "Why do you care?"

"Because nothing could ever make me _stop_ caring. I don't care how mad either of us get, I will never abandon him, I'll always look out for them. He can ignore me all he wants but I'm not going anywhere." Amy narrowed her eyes further as Fiona continued, "I messed up, and I'm paying for it. But he doesn't have to pay for it too. Maybe someday we'll be friends again, and maybe we won't. But if he gets hurt it'll still hurt me to see it. I'd be really happy for you two."

"We aren't actually together." Amy said flatly, "And I plan on keeping it that way, James isn't really my type anyway." Fiona, already uncomfortably close moved a little bit closer.

"Then don't lead him on." She said in a dangerously low voice, "If you hurt him, I'll make you regret it. Be straight with him or leave him the hell alone."

"Are you threatening me?" The blond girl asked.

"I guess so, yes."

"You'd never follow through with it." Amy accused, but Fiona could see her becoming nervous.

"Try me." She said with a sardonic smile, "And, thankfully, what I do isn't nearly as important as what I say. I'm watching you, Amy Vane. Don't get me wrong, I _do_ like you, but I've got people to look out for, and if you endanger them I won't like you that much anymore. And it never ends well for people I don't like." Fiona pat the fifth-year on the shoulder and brushed past her, leaving her alone in the empty room.

* * *

Ambrose and Andrea stood by a table in the Room of Requirement. Across from them, Rose and Albus set the empty potion bottle.

"What is this?" Andrea asked. Her twin leaned over to examine it.

"_This_ is our project, our legacy." Albus answered. Ambrose looked up and Andrea cocked an eyebrow.

"But what is it?" Ambrose asked.

"You'd better step back." Rose warned, taking out her wand. The Lovegoods both took a wary step back as Rose placed her wand on the bottle. She whispered, "I, Ambrose Lovegood, hereby state." The bottle cap flipped open and Rose continued, "That this is the most wonderful experiment in all of creation." Albus snorted and Rose glared at him. They all watched the bottle as the cap flipped closed, then opened again.

"That this is the most wonderful experiment in all of creation." Ambrose's voice came from the bottle, the twins leaned forward in shock.

"How did you do that?" Ambrose demanded. Rose smiled and tapped the bottle with her wand, the lid closed again.

"We put a charm on the bottle that absorbs every voice it hears and stores it. Then, with the spoken command, it can speak in any of the voices it's heard. All it needs is to hear the voice and then the name will call upon it when you need it. Then it will say whatever you want it to in whatever voice you want it to." She answered.

"May I?" Andrea asked. Rose nodded and let the other girl step up to the table and press her wand tip to the tip of the potion bottle, she muttered, "I, Rose Weasley, hereby state," The lid flipped up, "I admit that Andrea is always right and I'm stubborn when I argue with her theories."

"Hey!" Rose argued but the lid had already closed and opened again.

"I admit that Andrea is always right and I'm stubborn when I argue with her theories." Rose voice said.

"Thank you Rose." Andrea smiled.

"That wasn't actually me..."

"Good enough for me. And what else would you have made it for?"

"I've got this." Albus took out his wand, "I, Argus Filch, hereby state all is clear in the western hallway, no students out of bed."

"All is clear in the western hallway, no students out of bed." Filch's voice came from the bottle.

"Oh." Ambrose said in comprehension.

"And if you ever try to get into it with magic it will just mimic you, but without opening the lid." Rose informed them.

"That's brilliant." Andrea breathed, leaning closer, "How did you do it?"

"We had help."

"From...?"

"Mostly from Fiona and Felicia." Albus said.

"That makes sense." Ambrose said. He joined his sister by the table, "What will you use it for?"

"We don't know yet." Rose said. Andrea looked up with a smile.

"I bet it'll be good."

* * *

Fiona walked down the seventh floor corridor, her hand was still hurting and she doubt it would stop for another couple of weeks. She had just walked by a door before freezing in her tracks, then she moved backwards to look at it. There wasn't supposed to be a door there, it was usually just a blank stretch of wall. Obviously, it was the room of requirement, but what could she be requiring at the moment? Curiously she creeped forward. It was just a door, a plain door. Biting her lip Fiona looked around before opening the door and entering the room. There was nothing there. The room was small and completely gray. It was cramped, only about the size of a king size bed, and held nothing inside of it. Fiona felt like she was trapped in a gray box, so she turned to leave only to find herself facing another doorless wall.

"Oh no." She said quietly, feeling around the wall. There was no door, no way out. She was trapped and she had class to get to! She threw her bag into the corner and bent to examine the wall more closely. "There should be a door here..." She muttered. But all she found was a small hole, she put her eye up to it and found herself peering through at the seventh floor corridor. A peephole! What was she going to do with a peephole. Then, as she watched, someone walked by. However, just as Fiona had, the person took a few steps back and look directly at her. It was James! Fiona took her head away from the hole and pressed herself against the other wall just as the door opened and James entered. "Don't let it..." Fiona warned him but it was too late, the door closed and disappeared. James first looked at the wall, then Fiona.

"What's going on?" He asked. Fiona sat down cross-legged next to her bag.

"It would appear," She said slowly, "We're trapped in here. Better make yourself comfortable."

* * *

**This one is a little short but I feel it got a few things across that were needed, right?**

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	17. Different Outlooks

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 17. Different Outlooks_  
**

James took a seat on the opposite wall, setting his bag down next to him and pointedly not looking at Fiona. She, however, was watching him with great interest.

"Why would anyone need a room with only one way in and one way out?" He asked eventually.

"I'm sure it'll let us out eventually." Fiona said with a shrug, "It lives to serve." James continued to look at anything except Fiona, she refused to look away from him. "So..." She said after a long, awkward silence, "What's up?" James shrugged unhelpfully. Fiona sighed, "There's got to be something new going on, and it looks like we're stuck in here so we'd better make the best of it, might as well talk."

"Amy said you talked to her yesterday." James said finally.

"Yep."

"You really threatened her?"

"Yep." James looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

"Care to explain?"

"Amy walked in on me when I was wrapping this bandage." She held up her hand as evidence, "And she said I should go to the hospital but I politely declined. Then I mentioned to her that the whole school, all the Gryffindors anyway, are buzzing about the two of you. Then she said that you weren't together blah blah blah and how you weren't her type more blah blah blah. So I just told her not to lead you on."

"What made you think she was leading me on?" James demanded.

"The cuddling, the walking, the flirting, the cheering, the Alchemy. You two walk awfully close together, you know."

"That doesn't mean..." James crossed his arms and turned away in a huff, but he was unable to keep his eyes from straying back to his ex-best friend, "What did Amy say?"

"She asked me why I cared." She replied simply, "She didn't think I should care just because we aren't technically friends anymore."

"You shouldn't."

"I can't help it! Face it, James. I've already spent six and more years sticking up for you, for all of you. And I know you hate me but I can't hate you so I have to make sure that you're not going to get hurt. That's when the whole 'threatening' interpretation came in." Fiona watched him for a moment, he was looking at her with a peculiarly soft expression of disbelief and offense.

"I don't hate you." He said quietly.

"What?" Fiona's brain froze.

"I don't hate you. I physically _can't_ hate you, after everything we've done, even after all of that." He scowled, "But _hate_? I just...no. I don't hate you. But you still shouldn't care." His eyes dropped down to her bandages, "What happened to your hand?"

"Magic stuff." Fiona answered off-offhandedly, "Nothing to worry about...I think."

"Wait, what did you two mean by 'threatening'?"

"I just told her in a very serious manner to watch her step." Fiona said, James tried not to smile but a small one slipped on his face for just a moment, it gave Fiona hope.

"I'm sure you did."

"Really, I did. I also said that I really _did_ like her, and she seems like a nice person but the way you two have been acting..."

"The way _we've_ been acting?" James asked in mock outrage.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that you already knew I'm a hypocrite, forget it." Fiona looked down and rubbed her hand, it really stung lately, "I saw the Quidditch game.." She started but was cut off by James's groan.

"I don't want to talk about it." He insisted. Fiona laughed.

"I thought it was inspiring, myself."

"What was more inspiring, the lack of teamwork or me getting nailed by the bludger?"

"Oh definitely the bludger." Fiona answered promptly, now the smile on James's face grew. He'd really missed having Fiona as a friend, she always made him laugh and cry and think and act. He missed how she'd try to blame things on him and her grim sense of humor, he missed the last few years of his life that had been devoted to her. _But..._ He thought to himself, _there's always that "but" with her._ He ducked his head.

"Was the thing with Amy really that noticeable?" He asked, he'd meant to keep it light but Fiona sobered immediately.

"It was to me." She answered seriously. James glanced up for just a second in curiosity before ducking his head again in embarassment.

"What do you mean, to you?" He pried. Fiona chewed her lip nervously.

"I just...noticed because I didn't really like it when you were holding hands with someone who wasn't me." She preoccupied herself with her bandage just in time to avoid James's head snap up, his eyebrows raising subtly.

"You what?" He asked. A steady pink blush grew on the girl's cheek and she spoke in a voice that was harder to hear and to understand.

"I didn't like how you put her arm around her, or how she looked up at you, or how well you bonded over Alchemy. Or how much you trusted her. I was kind of being replaced and you were taking all these..._steps_ and I didn't want you to." James grinned wolfishly and used his feet to nudge hers.

"You were jealous!" He teased, her blush grew darker.

"Oh shut up James! I just...yeah but... shut up." Fiona laughed. His feet rested against her comfortably and James continued to watch her, unable to wipe the wicked grin from his face. "I'll smack that grin off you if you want." She offered. James tried to straighten his mouth but to no avail, he was stuck with the smile.

"You've been asking all of the questions." James accused, he searched his mind and found the one subject that shot down his happiness straight away, "How are things with you and Landon?"

"Millie says we're like an old married couple, can you believe her? By the way, she told me that she was the one who told you everything, I had a hard time swallowing that. Anyway, things with Landon couldn't be greater unless he stopped getting detention, we never get to spend that much time together." Fiona complained, somehow James felt uplifted. He didn't know why but he liked that Landon didn't completely satisfy her. As he searched for a reason his mind suddenly pieced together several things: On the train when Fiona blushed over the romance novel; They wrestled on the seat and Fiona's robe slipped off the pieces of her legs that weren't covered by her skirt; Landon walking next to Fiona and the look on his face when Fiona leaned on James's shoulder; "Every friendship is based on a loophole...especially ours."; His hand had felt nonexistent when Fiona wasn't holding it. James was still absorbing it when Fiona nudged him with her foot. "You okay?" She asked. James cleared his throat and tried to speak, but he didn't. He couldn't say anything, he didn't hate her and he didn't...she was a liar.

"By the way..." Fiona continued when James didn't answer, "Rose told me why she and Albus were mad at you. You wouldn't even stick up for me...or her. I thought what you did isn't nearly as important as what you say? That hurt, that you couldn't even defend me anymore."

"Fiona..." James started but she cut him off.

"So I just wanted to let you know that I forgive you."

"What?" James felt waterlogged, he must have heard her wrong, his brain moved sluggishly to catch up with her as she spoke again.

"I forgive you for letting her say that. I can handle it, and that's the most important thing. So I don't blame you, you were just trying to stay on her side. I'm glad you were staying on _someone's _side."

"Fiona...I..." But Fiona was standing, the door had reappeared. She turned back to her old friend.

"I'm glad we talk, obviously the room is too. I'll see you some other time, maybe? It's okay if you don't want to." She opened the door and walked out, leaving the door open for him. By the time James got to the doorway, she was gone. He looked around hopelessly, feeling lost.

"She walked away." He muttered, "After saying that?" He got into the corridor and sank against the wall in realization, "I guess what you do _is_ pretty important."

* * *

"You're in an especially good mood." Rose noted. She, Fiona, Albus, Lily and Ella sat in or around the window seat in the Gryffindor common room that evening. Fiona had been relaxed and was smiling more than ever, surprising especially since Landon was serving detention for the fourth time that week. She looked up from the book she hadn't actually been reading when Rose addressed her.

"Yeah. I guess I am..." She agreed, her teeth gleamed as though they noticed the new attention. She _was_ in a good mood that day. She felt more at peace, she felt calm. She felt..._closure_. Of course, she hoped it wouldn't be the last talk between her and James but it was enough to satisfy her by means of hearing each other out. A lot of the time just listening to people was enough for Fiona, sometimes just being given a chance to explain made her feel better. Now that everything was out in the open she felt less angsty, she felt better about seeing James sitting in an armchair by the fire with his back to her. She felt better seeing Amy lean over the arm of the couch to talk to him, she felt better when she saw Demi becoming enthusiastic over their obviously entertaining conversation. Sure, she still didn't like how close Amy was getting or how much she smiled at him, but she was at peace with everything.

James, on the other hand, was feeling notably worse since their talk in the room of requirement. He used to like it when Amy leaned closer to talk to him, but now he watched her approach with caution. Had she really told Fiona that he wasn't her type? He had thought he felt a growing connection between the two of them, he had begun to think that the way she hung on to him was leading the two of them into something...more. A few hours ago James would have liked the idea of being with Amy, he'd even thought about it as he watched her, every day he felt that she was someone he could get close to without fear of hurt of rejection. Now he was proved wrong, Amy wasn't interested in him that way and he should have known it. And Fiona said she had been jealous, _jealous_, of him and Amy. What was that supposed to mean? Holding a hand that wasn't hers... he had to admit that he didn't really _like_ holding anyone else's hand. Somehow he felt the action was specific to Fiona and her alone, that holding hands with anyone else would be dead wrong. Her hands had this special thing about them, they were warm and soft and inviting. And until the two of them had made such a mess of everything they were accessible. He'd never thought about it, he never thought he'd take the small action for granted. His hands were empty without hers, and no other hands, not even Amy's, were right to fill the gap. Other hands would be too small or too big or too cold or too hot, Fiona's would always be just right. James had never appreciated it while he hand them, but when they were gone he was incomplete. He was rethinking everything that had ever happened between the two of them, since that talk he was seeing everything differently. As if the entire world had changed just because he had a conversation with his old best friend.

And then there was Fiona's fateful "I forgive you". That had knocked the air out of James's lungs if anything ever had. She forgave him? All this time he thought she was waiting for _him_ to forgive _her_, and she was probably still waiting for it. But her acceptance of his actions were so quick and so certain, it was almost as if she hadn't even had to think about what James had done, she'd just forgiven him right off the bat. And for that he felt so incredibly guilty. She had so much care and love in her that she couldn't keep it from touching everyone around her. She had reached out to him when he had showed no signs of looking back. What was worse, Fiona forgave him after he didn't even apologize. He didn't even apologize... James shook his head, confused beyond rational thought. He didn't even have to be sorry for Fiona to forgive him. Yet, he had watched her beg and cry and apologize time and time again with a heart that was so cold he didn't even consider forgiving her, at the time she seemed unforgivable. _After all, _He thought, _It was just a few white lies_... he stopped himself. He hated lies, that was why the whole feud began, he hadn't cared what she did or why she did it, but she kept it from him when they were supposed to share everything. For the first time James wondered, _Why did she do that? Why would she keep it when she knew they were supposed to share?_ He wanted desperately to ask her, but he already had and received an unhelpful answer. Then again...they were both in hysterics when he demanded to know what she was thinking. He'd never given her a chance to completely explain herself, and suddenly he wanted to hear it all. He wanted to know why she kept it, he knew and why, what exactly she thought she was keeping, when she was going to tell him, he wanted to hear her apologize again now that his heart had softened. He kind of...wanted to forgive her. Which brought James back to Fiona's "I forgive you". He hadn't deserved it, he knew it. He hadn't realized that he was the one who needed to do the apologizing, but now he saw it in full. Fiona had already apologized as much as she could and he turned a deaf ear, now all she could do was wait out his decision, even though he thought he'd already made it. Now he was to one causing the problems, and she had poured out her heart and forgiveness, it made James feel unbelievably rotten. He needed to...well, he needed to...talk to her, at the very least.

"James?" Amy waved her hand in front of the distracted boy's face, "James, are you listening?"

"No." James said apologetically, pulling himself from his reverie. Amy shrugged and continued talking about something James couldn't follow, he was watching her and acknowledging her and taking in her every move but his mind was still miles away. Finally, he realized what he wanted to say to her.

"Fiona is not a tramp." He said quietly, Amy stopped mid-sentence and stared at him.

"What?"

"Fiona isn't a tramp." James repeated, "She's... really nice. I'm sorry, and I should have said something back at the Quidditch game but I was distracted. I should have stuck up for Rose." Amy's eyes narrowed and James continued, "It's just that you shouldn't really say that about anyone, especially someone that I know so well. She's not like that, and you're not the kind of person who would judge people like that." Like hell she wasn't, "And I think that you should just...spread it around that she's not really that bad."

"She threatened me." Amy replied flatly, crossing her arms.

"I know, that's just her style. She doesn't like leaving things to chance, it's her reassurance. And I'm sure that you won't do anything to upset her." James said.

"So, what? Are you two suddenly friends again?" Demi asked, leaning in, always happy to add another friend to her list, unaware of the look Amy shot her.

"No." James answered sadly. But that could always change...

* * *

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**EPIC! Oh you won't BELIEVE the next chapter! Muwaha! **

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	18. Subtlety

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 18. Subtlety _  
**

"How's your hand?" Rose asked Fiona nervously. It was morning and Fiona's face was paler than usual, and she kept moving her left hand as though to touch her right but she kept stopping at the last moment, biting her lip.

"It's fine." Fiona insisted, not wanting Rose to feel bad. Too late.

"Fiona, we're really, _really_ sorry." Albus insisted.

"And I'm telling you it isn't that bad. Plus, even if it _did _hurt it'd be worth it to see you two so excited about the bottle. And it's pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Comes with sacrifices." They all sat down in the common room, none of them felt like eating breakfast that morning so they took advantage of the empty common room. The portrait opened and Lily walked in, carrying a stack of toast and Ella was right behind her. Lily saw with them and nibbled at the toast, offering to the others who politely passed.

"What are you going to call it?" Lily asked when she learned what they were talking about.

"Nothing creative." Rose complained.

"We were thinking about the Talking Bottle." Albus said.

"That isn't creative." Lily agreed.

"How about the Glass of Voices?" Fiona suggested. Rose's eyes lit up.

"I like that!" The girl exclaimed, Albus didn't look as impressed.

"It's kind of cryptic..." He started.

"It is not!" His little sister argued, "That's exactly what it is, a glass with voices."

"You're just mad because you didn't come up with it." Rose accused, Albus glared at all of the girls. Fiona laughed. "So you're still in that good mood?" Rose asked. Fiona's hand hurt more than ever but she couldn't find it in herself to be in bad spirits.

"Yes." She answered.

"What happened?" Lily asked curiously. Fiona shrugged.

"It's just a nice day is all." It was not, in fact, a nice day. The sky was covered in gray clouds, the air was unusually warm and humid for mid February and night rain had washed away almost all of the snow on the ground. "Time to go to class!" She realized. She stood and gave Rose, Albus and Lily customary goodbye hugs. Then, without even thinking about it, she leaned down and wrapped Ella in a hug too. Fiona had surprised herself, but she didn't pull away, she'd already started the hug and she was going to make it just like the others. Ella stiffened in surprise, it was the first time Fiona see the little girl react to anything. As if in slow motion, Fiona tightened her arms just a little bit and Ella relaxed, her arms reached out and lightly draped around Fiona, returning (however weakly) the hug. When Fiona pulled back, so did Ella. Her face and her eyes still looked the same, she melted right back into her invisible state, Fiona watched her suspiciously. A reaction, maybe it _was_ going to be a good day.

* * *

Fiona made Landon go to Alchemy that day, she sat alone in the common room, going through her bag looking for some homework to occupy herself with. As she pulled out her books something in the window caught her eye. Moving close she saw there was a tiny piece of parchment tucked under the cushion where she usually sat. Curiously, she pulled the parchment out and saw that it was folded in half and the top was marked with the letter "F". Realizing the note was for her she sat down on the cushion and opened it, reading a single line: _Meet me by the tree after dinner_. There was no signature, but Fiona knew James's handwriting anywhere. What would he want to talk to her about?

* * *

After a rushed dinner and some quick goodbyes, Fiona walked out across the grounds to the tree by the lake. She had wrapped her cloak around her body and her scarf around her neck to protect herself from the chilly wind, other than that it wasn't too cold. But it was still unseasonably humid and it made Fiona's hair pull itself from her braid and strands of it stuck to her face stubbornly even though she tried to swipe them away. She looked up nervously and saw the thunderheads moving in, blocking the sky in dark, smoky shapes. James was already by the tree, he was leaning against it, staring out over the lake. Fiona stopped several paces from him and crossed her arms.

"It's going to rain." She said, James turned around, "What do you want?" James moved away from the tree, taking a few steps toward the lake, Fiona watched him curiously.

"I just want to talk." James assured her. Without thinking, Fiona took a few steps closer and leaned her back against the tree, she faced him, trying to keep her expression unreadable, she didn't know how to feel.

"Go ahead." She said.

"So I was talking to Amy yesterday." James started, "And I was remembering some things that she said before. I told her that none of the rumors about you were true, and that she should start correcting people when she hears it. I'm sorry I didn't stick up for you before, I was in a state." Fiona uncrossed her arms, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"You don't need to apologize, I already forgave you." She said blankly.

"But I _do_ need to apologize because you need to know that I regret, and I wanted to thank you for being so nice about it when I didn't deserve it." A gust of wind blew through his hair, the black strands were already messy on a daily basis, now they were mussed and he didn't react. Fiona closed her eyes against the breeze for a moment, listening to it whistle in her ears.

"I wasn't mad at you." Fiona said, "I forgave you because I wasn't upset."

"You were trying to make it up to me."

"I wasn't. I was just doing the right thing, you deserved to know." The cold nipped at her cheeks and irritated her welts. Inhaling sharply, she moved her left hand to coddle the right one, when she looked up James was right in front of her, a concerned look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's just..." Fiona mumbled.

"Let me see it."

"James..."

"Let me see it." He demanded softly, holding out his hands. Watching him, she lifted her right hand and placed it in his. Carefully, his hands caressed hers as he used his left hand to cushion her right as he used his right hand to tenderly unwrapped her bandage. Biting her lip against the stinging Fiona felt the warmth from his hands, they were comforting and caring, moving ever so gently around her wounds. James held Fiona's hand near his chest, they were standing nearly toe to toe. Fiona looked up at him, she could see the pink tinge in his cheeks from the cold, and she could feel the warm heat of his breath in the air between them. When the bandage came off and Fiona's hand was exposed she winced, her entire hand was varying shades of red, black and blue. "Did that hurt?" James asked nervously, pausing in his examination.

"It always hurts." Fiona whispered, "No big deal." James made a tsking noise with his tongue and held her hand a little closer to his face, still trying to be careful. His hands were too warm on her skin, he was too close. Fiona's breath became short and labored, sudden butterflies rocketing around her stomach. She pulled back so quickly that her entire hand grazed his, bringing a fresh burst of pain. James held up his hands and raised his eyebrows. "It hurts." Fiona said, blushing, she took the bandage back from him and wrapped back around her hand. "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"As a matter of fact, no." James crossed his arms again and took a step back, giving Fiona some space.

"Well, what else?"

"The main reason I wanted to talk to you was to say that I forgive you, too." Fiona raised her eyes to his, not daring to believe him.

"But...?" She searched for words.

"I know you're sorry about it, I've been acting stupid. I've just recently realized that what people do _is_ important. And you've done a lot for me since I've been mad at you. You never gave up on me, you stayed honest, you helped Rose and Albus. You protected me from Amy. That stands for a lot more than keeping a few things from me, I'm sure I'm not always honest either. So, I accept your apology, and I forgive you. I also apologize for the way I behaved."

"Don't even worry about it." Fiona responded breathlessly.

"I also think I'm ready to hear the full explanation." James said calmly, "So tell me, what were _you_ thinking?"

"I didn't tell you about Alchemy because I didn't want to give up any of the time we spend together." Fiona answered sadly, she hung her head, "I didn't say anything about Landon because for some reason I felt it'd hurt your feelings. I didn't tell you about the trip because I was indecisive. I didn't know why, but I thought you were a reason to stay, after a while I still couldn't figure out why and I stopped worrying about it. I think that's when I stopped trying to be a good friend, I didn't tell you our status just because I forgot. Basically, I didn't tell you anything because I didn't want to lose you, and I thought those things might make us grow apart or something."

"You were right." James said simply.

"I know. You already know how bad I feel."

"Yeah, I do."

"So..." Fiona hesitated, "What now?" She was hoping for their relationship to be healed but then James said something that caught her completely off guard.

"What's our friendship loophole?"

"Pardon?"

"You said every friendship is based on a loophole." James explained, "Especially ours. What is it?"

"Desperation, mostly." Fiona admitted, "I stuck by your side on the train because I was so grateful to find someone I know, I was terrified of facing school alone." That James could identify with, but he also noticed something about the way she said this that she didn't.

"What do you mean mostly? What's the rest of it?" James asked. Fiona blushed.

"Nothing, that was basically it."

"Basically?" James asked. She'd done it again! Fiona just shook her head, her cheeks staying pink. "You were jealous." James remembered, smiling. The two of them looked up as raindrops started to fall on them, the tree held little shelter for them at this time of year.

"James.." Fiona begged.

"How long were you jealous for?"

"Would you just-?"

"What a loophole!" James exclaimed. Fiona stepped back and found the tree blocking her escape as she watched him move closer, she blinked rain off her lashes as more water fell from the sky, obstructing her vision and instantly soaking them both. "You were jealous of Amy, I see. Aha! Brilliant!"

"You're scaring me." Fiona informed him flatly.

"Sorry, but you just don't understand." He was still smiling, but his eyes grew more serious as he watched her cower against the tree, "I saw Landon watching you the first day we got back to school this year. I was confused, then nervous, and the only thing I could think to do was to pull you closer to me and protect you."

"From Landon?"

"From Landon." James confirmed, "I was mad when you wouldn't be straight with me, I was mad that you were spending more time with him than me, I was mad that I was being pushed out of the picture."

"I didn't mean to..."

"I know, I know. But I really missed you, Fi." James admitted.

"I missed you too." Fiona said softly. She couldn't help but notice how close he'd gotten. The rain was now pouring down and it soaked his hair, he was so close that she could see the black locks cling to his forehead. He could see every individual raindrop that was caught in her long eyelashes, those eyelashes that framed her beautiful eyes. Normally, neither of the pair were very good at picking up subtle hints, but they were very attuned to these ones. Fiona had admitted to liking James as more than a friend, and they still continued even when she didn't recognize them, even when she was dating Landon, even when James was flirting with Amy. James then had retaliated, feeling likewise. The jealousy, for him, had been all-consuming. They couldn't even been friends since the pain was so intense, even though he didn't know what was causing the pain, now he knew. But the two of them had such a deep connection that they couldn't _not_ be friends, they couldn't handle another day apart. Even though Fiona was still with Landon, and the thought hurt James every moment of the day, but here he was with Fiona out in the rain under the tree and he wouldn't give up this moment for anything.

The more he thought about it the more stupid he found himself, he'd become such a hypocrite. He didn't want to give up any time he could spend with her, so he couldn't possibly be mad at her. Which made him remember something Albus had said; _"We can either forgive him for leaving something out or spend the rest of our lives being mad at him about it. I don't want to give up whatever we might do in that time, I don't want to be mad at him forever... It's not worth it." _James was obviously in need of writing his father an apology letter. But look at how much time he'd already lost with his best friend by being mad at her, by being jealous, by trying to push himself away. Not again. And this time she would know _exactly_ how he felt about her when they started their relationship again. Meaning there could be no more beating around the bush, he had to tell her straight.

"We can be friends again?" Fiona asked hopefully, watching his face curiously.

"If that's what you want." James agreed easily.

"What does _that_ mean?" She demanded.

"It means that at this point, I want you any way I can get you. You want to be friends, it's yours. I'd really like to be friends again."

"That's not what it sounded like." Fiona's voice was becoming strained, her butterflies becoming writhing snakes.

"That's how I meant it to sound. Fiona..."

"Stop it!" Fiona interrupted, stomping her foot, she was becoming frustrated and overwhelmingly nervous, "Just stop it! I know I started it but you're being really..." She couldn't even think of the right words to say aloud, but in her head she was saying, _He's coming on to me!_ Part of her was excited, and she guessed it was the same part of her that felt so damn nervous. "James," She decided to nip it in the bud, "I want to be friends again. And we can be friends again, but just that, okay? Because I'm still dating Landon and you're James, you're my best friend. And we just apologized, I'm not ready for us to be so serious. I just want us to be friends!"

"As you wish." James pulled back, holding up his hands. Fiona sighed in relief and James laughed, the sound muffled by the rain, "I'll stay any way you want me to. And you can try to deny it, you can try to run, but someday I'll get you."

"Oh, please!" Fiona rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, he laughed again, "You're so cocky!"

"I like to think of it as confident." James argued.

"I'll bet you do. We should go inside before I get an infection or we both catch pneumonia."

"Madame Pomfry could fix us in a moment." James assured her, walking next to her as they returned to the shelter of the castle, "So are you going to tell me what _really_ happened to your hand?"

* * *

**Sometimes I press save while I'm not logged in and lose everything I typed in that session. That's what happened with the second part of this chapter, starting with "I was mad that I was being pushed out of the picture" way up there. So I usually give up with that happened but I was determined with this one, and I think that it's actually better now.**

**Obviously I wasn't going to make this easy :) Sorry!  
**

**Feedback?**

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	19. Always An Ultimatum

**JAMES POTTER **

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 19. Always An Ultimatum_  
**

"Animated Objectory" Demi's voice came from the small potion bottle (or the Glass of Voices).

"That's so cool!" The real Demi squealed. Fiona smiled, she was sitting on the couch next to James, showing the Glass of Voices to Demi who was sitting in an armchair. Amy sat in the other arm chair, reading a book and acting unimpressed. "I don't even know what that means!"

"Me neither." Fiona admitted, setting the bottle on the low coffee table in front of them, "It was in the syllabus for next week's Charms class. So I'll tell you when I find out."

"Thank you." Demi said with a nod, still looking at the green bottle with wonder. James was pleased to find that Demi and Fiona got along very well. They both were fun and sometimes chatty, they'd both put a fun or risky activity before anything productive. But he had also figured that Amy and Fiona would have gotten along very well, too. Instead, the two ignored each other. They weren't outright rude or disapproving, they just acted like the other didn't exist, they never spoke directly to each other and never made eye contact. For the most part James figured that this was due to the whole "threatening" situation, but he couldn't figure out why they couldn't ignore it and move on.

The reason they couldn't ignore it was because from the moment Amy and Fiona saw each other they both knew the threat still stood. Amy was being careful not to cross the older girl's path, and Fiona was careful to let her. The blond girl didn't leave, she couldn't when she and James were still such good friends, leaving or picking a fight would hurt him...which would hurt Fiona...which would unequivocally come back to Amy. So for his sake the two girls stayed together the only way they found themselves able to: distanced.

Upon the patching of James and Fiona's relationship the others slowly started coming back too. Lily and Ella were the first to break ranks and jump right in with Fiona, James, Demi, and Amy. After a while, Albus came too, and Rose was forced to follow. Not that it was too bad, James formally apologized to his hot-headed cousin, and she gave a pending "you're forgiven".

"I'm going to bed." Amy announced, closing her book and standing. James and Demi looked up.

"Oh." James looked confused, "It's still pretty early..."

"I'm really, _really_ tired." Amy insisted with a forced smile.

"Okay then." James blinked stupidly and turned his head back to the bottle. When Amy was safely upstairs he turned to Fiona accusingly, "Why can't you two just get along?"

"Who, me?" Fiona asked innocently, Demi stifled a giggle behind her hand. James only glanced at her for a moment before turning his attention back to his best friend.

"Fi?" He asked seriously.

"I threatened her." She answered honestly, "People don't really respond well to that."

"Well, did you apologize?"

"No."

"Huh?" James looked surprised. Fiona looked surprised too. "Why not?"

"James, people apologize when they're sorry for something. I'm trying to be sincere here, and I can't sincerely apologize for it. And she knows that I won't take it back, and she knows that I still mean it."

"That's so cool." Demi breathed, "I could _never_ stand up to Amy like that. She's really a sweet person, but she can be so stubborn." Fiona nodded in agreement.

"You don't have to..." James fidgeted in his seat, conflicted.

"James." Fiona didn't continue until he met her grave eyes. Merlin, had he missed those eyes... "I'm honest, okay? And it may seem rude or overprotective but in truth, if she hurts you, I won't let her get away with it. So just appreciate that." She broke eye contact and picked up the Glass of Voices again and put it safely in her bag. The Potter boy fidgeted again, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Fiona felt uncomfortable too, she meant every word of her explanation but she worried because she didn't want to lead James on, she just wanted to be _friends_. Why was it so hard all of a sudden?

* * *

It was lunch the next day and Fiona sat next to Landon. Across from her were Albus and Rose. James was on her other side, Amy on his other side, and Demi next to her. Lily sat next to Albus and Ella was next to her. Fiona couldn't stop smiling, this was the perfect group, she was glad that she was finally able to sit in such mixed company. She had just finished eating and was thinking about her next class when Hugo walked up to them.

"Hey!" Everyone greeted him happily. Hugo Weasley was more of a ghost than Nearly Headless Nick. He was rarely seen, rarely heard, and rarely existed to the rest of the world. The small boy spent most of his time studying or doing homework for his extremely accelerated classes. Or he was with Andrea or Ambrose Lovegood.

"Hi." He greeted everyone simply. He then turned to Fiona and held out his hand, in it was a folded piece of paper. "Professor McGonagall told me to give this to you." As soon as the note was safely in the recipient's hand Hugo nodded curtly and quickly walked back to the Ravenclaw table.

"He's getting hard to recognize." Fiona muttered.

"Who?" Rose asked. Fiona rolled her eyes and opened the note, reading the quick reminder hastily and she sighed.

"What is it?" James asked, leaning to read it over her shoulder. Before he could, Fiona stood and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"I left my Defense Against The Dark Art book in Transfiguration this morning. I can't believe I did that! I guess that's why they tell us to put our names in them. Anyway, I should go pick it up before going to class without it. Who wants to come?"

"Can't." Landon apologized, "We're headed off to Herbology and my Da will skin me if I'm late again."

"I'll come." James volunteered, he stood and looked down at Amy, "Amy, coming?" He asked. All of the girls at the table held their breath in apprehension, the boys completely oblivious. Amy nodded and stood to follow them. Fiona smiled as much as she could and headed off, the other two following behind them. Demi leaned across the table to whisper to Rose.

"If they're not back by dinner, I'm sending a search party." She said. Rose nodded seriously.

"Why would you do that?" Albus asked.

* * *

The trio walked into the Transfiguration room to find it deserted apart from various animals hanging in their cages. Fiona walked up to McGonagall's desk and took an old tattered book off the top of the pile. She opened the front cover to check for her name and nodded affirmative when she located it.

"Got it." She said cheerfully, stuffing the book in her bag, "Let's get to Herbology." Fiona snapped her head to the younger girl with raised eyebrows when Amy let out a sigh of frustration.

"What I'm not allowed to sigh?" Amy snapped.

"She didn't say anything." James muttered.

"Yes, yes she did. I've been walking on eggshells and being extra careful and extra nice but I can't do it!" She lowered her voice for a moment, "I'm really sorry."

"Sorry for what?" James asked cautiously. Fiona had slowly made her way to them from the front of the room and stood beside James.

"I'm not going to stick around like a church mouse just because _she_ says I should." Amy raised her voice and planted her feet a shoulder's width apart. "I'm not going to do it. I'm sorry James, I really _do_ care about you and I don't want to do this... But it's either me or her."

"Don't!" Fiona warned. Amy glared at her.

"What am I getting out of this relationship? I get you breathing down my neck just waiting for me to do something wrong. I have better things to do with my time!"

"Watch it." Fiona growled. Amy just raised her eyebrows.

"See? James, pick. Me, or Fiona." James was standing completely still, shocked beyond reason. Fiona stepped in front of him.

"No, Amy. You can't do that. It's so immature. I wasn't going to make him choose!"

"Only because you're afraid he won't pick you!" Amy taunted.

"And I suppose you think he'll pick you?" Fiona asked.

"Yes, I do. I deserve the same chance you got, Fiona Finnegan. You _already_ broke his heart."

"I'm not going to give you that chance if you think it will end the same way." Fiona said seriously.

"You can't protect him forever!"

"Like Hell I can't! Don't do it Amy!"

"You can't make me stay." Amy crossed her arms decisively, "And you can't make me leave. It's up to him." She looked at James expectantly. Feeling the begins of fear and panic, Fiona stepped away from him, bringing herself to a stop a few paces from his right arm.

"I'm sorry." Fiona whispered to the room at large.

"Me too." Amy's voice was barely audible, her eyes momentarily softening. She looked up to see James watching her, hope began to rise in her chest, "So, James, what'll it be? Me or her?" She asked him directly.

"Her." He said without hesitation. Fiona raised her head in surprise.

"What?" Amy demanded, taking a step back.

"Her." James repeated, making eye contact with Amy and holding it to show her he was serious.

"You can't." The blond girl argued, "Don't you remember what she did to you? All those weeks that you were so _lost_ and _hurt_. I don't even get a first chance and _she_ gets another one after all of that? That's not fair."

"No it isn't." James agreed, "I'm really sorry Amy. I was hoping that you could be friends. But since you can't... I'm not really making a choice. Fiona has been a big part of my life since I was eleven years old, and all of those years and experiences meant a lot to me. I can't just give all that up, you're really nice, but I only met you this year, and we've only been friends for a couple of months. I was hoping you wouldn't make me choose, no one should make me choose because it'll be her every time. No matter what she does or says I'll pick her, no questions asked."

"You're still stuck on her." Amy hissed, "You've got to move on. Honestly, it's getting pathetic!"

"I did move on." James cut across her, "And I've found a few things. But you're not one of them." Amy took one step back, then another, backing to the door. She flung the wood barrier open and waited until it closed again, blocking her from the other's sight, before running back to her bed where she could safely cry in privacy. She didn't go to her classes that day, she spent the time on her bed, reflecting upon the decision she had just made and thinking about the person she had just lost.

Back in the Transfiguration room, James turned back to Fiona, who was ducking her head humbly.

"She's right, you know." She said sadly, "She was a better friend, you'd be better off."

"No I wouldn't." James insisted, "We've got so much history, and I want more of that. I certainly don't want to start that over with someone else, it'd be like wasting the last five and a half years. Is that what you really want?"

"No, but this isn't about what I want."

"It's what _I_ want. So stop worrying about it." He approached her and put a hand on her shoulder affectionately, making her look up. "I'm loyal. And I can't imagine not having you around. It's no choice, I'm always going to pick you. _Always_." Fiona gave him a shaky smile. She liked being number one, and she felt really bad about what he just gave up. He just gave up a _chance_, and she couldn't let him spend his entire life waiting for her.

* * *

**This one is short but I don't want to put in to many mini ideas in one chapter.**

**Epic thanks to my very good buddy Linsey/TildaBeans for proof reading this chapter for me!  
**

**Also, it's summer so chapters will probably be slower.  
**

**So REVIEW!  
**


	20. It Begins

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 20. It Begins_  
**

"He's done it!" Rose said happily, peering up at the others from behind an issue of the _Daily Prophet_. She was sitting at breakfast with Albus, James, Lily, Fiona, Ella, Landon, Millie, and Demi.

"Who did what?" The Gryffindor Seeker asked curiously. Rose spread the paper out in front of her and pointed to the Headline of the Feature story; _Potter Elected Minister Of Magic_. Underneath the Headline was a picture of Harry addressing a crowd of reporters from a podium, Ginny stood at his elbow, smiling as she observed her successful husband.

"Uncle Harry won Minister of Magic." Rose summarized.

"Congratulations." Millie said.

"That's going to take a lot of getting used to." Albus muttered into his spoon of porridge.

"You don't think this will make him really busy, do you?" Lily asked apprehensively, "I know he'll have more things to do, but I'd really like him to be around this summer."

"I know what you mean." James agreed without answering.

"Listen, we just need to think about this for a minute. This is Uncle Harry we're talking about here," Fiona assured the Potters, "And the thing I know about my Uncle Harry is that he'll always make time to be with his family. You're all growing up, and he knows that you won't be around forever. Parents really freak out over stuff like that, they make sure they use every available moment when you're young."

"That's how my Dad sees it." Landon added in a grumble.

* * *

It was April, the ground and the sky were warm. The windows had been flung open, spreading the smell of spring throughout the castle. Rose and Albus sat in a secluded alcove somewhere deep in the castle's belly. Albus was holding the Glass of Voices, he turned the green glass bottle over in his hands repeatedly. Rose watched him curiously, he was brooding, and he wasn't sharing his thoughts. Eventually, the boy lifted his head and bit his lip, studying his cousin and then he returned to looking affectionately at the bottle.

"What's up?" Rose asked finally.

"You see this?" Albus asked, holding up the bottle.

"Yes, Albus, I see it." She answered flatly, crossing her arms.

"This is brilliant. _We_ did this, how cool is that?"

"Very cool."

"A couple of third years decided they wanted to do something _big_ and we created this. It's one of a kind, it's brilliant, it's new, it's a perfect idea and all it took was _us_ to make it real." He was looking at the bottle with a fiery expression that made Rose nervous.

"Did you have a point to this, or are you just in awe?" She asked.

"I'm in awe, everyone is. But think about it, if we can do this there's already so much more that we can do. So many more things that we can create, so much ground to cover."

"You want to make something else?" Rose asked incredulously, reading between the lines, "Already? We just got this one off the ground, barely anyone knows about it yet, though I guess that isn't very important, but still! And we're still not used to having it around, and Fiona's hand is still messed up from the experimenting."

"I'm excited." Albus said.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Sure I did. Rose, you're wasting precious time that we _could _be using to make our next great discovery. With brains like ours, with us working together, we can change the world!"

"What do you suggest?" Rose asked the excited scholar. Albus bent down to where his bag was sitting against the wall. He opened the flap and searched through the contents, pulling out enough parchment to fill a book. He handed his cousin the papers and she leafed through them quickly, every single page was filled with Albus's small handwriting.

"When did you get the time to do this?" She demanded, she and Albus spent most of their time together, when he found enough time on his own to do all this research was beyond her.

"I've been working on it for a while." Albus admitted.

"Have you?" Rose asked sarcastically. For a few minutes Albus watched her as she read the first few pages more thoroughly. As she turned each page to read the next her brow became more furrowed, the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown.

"What do you think?" Albus asked impatiently as soon as she had finished reading the last page of the brief.

"I don't know," was the thoughtful response, "I don't really think this is a very good idea. It's a lot more complicated than the Glass of Voices, so it's automatically a lot more dangerous. I don't think we're ready for this yet." Albus held up the bottle.

"Exhibit A." He said simply.

"And we had a lot of help on that, this is a lot harder, I think it's a bad idea." Rose pressed.

"You know what? I'm going to do this anyway, so you can help or not."

"Albus, please don't make me…" Rose muttered and Albus smiled triumphantly.

* * *

It was only a few days later when Albus led Rose up the abandoned winding staircases of the castle. The main staircases could lead to everywhere in the castle, when they stood at the top and looked over the banister they could see the ground several floors below, the lowest floor loomed far below them.

"Are you ready?" Albus asked, turning away from the banister and walking to the floor's platform.

"I don't know…" Rose started, she was holding on to the papers that Albus had written about the spell and process. Albus turned suddenly, staring at the archway leading to the rest of the rooms on that story. His eyes narrowed as he watched it intently for a few moments. Finally he blinked and turned back to Rose, who was observing him with raised eyebrows. "What is it?" She asked him. He just shook his head quizzically, he had thought that he saw a pair of large, gray eyes peering at him around the archway, but when he turned to look at them more closely they had disappeared behind the wall. With a flourish Albus pulled his wand out of his robes and held it a lot as thought ready to cast a great spell.

"Ready?" He asked his cousin with a smug grin.

"No." Rose answered him bluntly, "I don't think we can do this on our own. We need some help."  
"I think we can do it."

"Just in case, I'll go get Fiona." She started to turn but Albus caught her elbow.

"We don't need her; if we can come up with the theory we can cast the spell."

"That's not true, that's the first thing this school teaches you!"

"Please, Rose?"

"Not a chance! Even with Fiona's help we messed it up enough to scorch her hand, now we're doing the same thing only ten times more dangerous and difficult. And without Fiona that triples our chances of disaster!"

"Fiona's hand is fine." Albus insisted, "And we'll just try, okay? If anything goes even a little bit wrong, we can stop." He peered at her, she looked down, "You want to try it too, I can see it in your eyes." Rose let a small smile slip to her lips.

"Yeah, I want to try. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you're scared."

"Not true!" Rose argued. Albus brought his hands to his armpits and flapped them, making mocking chicken noises. "Stop it!" Rose couldn't help but laugh a little as she swatted at him. He continued to taunt her until she gave in. "Fine! Fine, just stop!" Albus was laughing too as he brought his arms down, raising his wand. Rose raised her wand too, they both pointed into the air, making sure to point at nothing in particular. They both began to mutter the jibberish words that Albus had found out, making sure that they were both saying the same thing at the same time. Rose's eye twitched as she felt strange magic being pulled from deep inside her body out her arm. She didn't dare stop the chant, afraid of what would happen, but the more they continued the more uncomfortable the two became with the force. Though they felt it, nothing appeared to be happening, no air changed colors and nothing looked disturbed by the magic. They both looked at each other and their eyes met, sending each other a silent message to stop. However, as careful as they were to talk and move at the same time, when they broke the spell Albus's arm fell just a moment after Rose's. The air between them stirred and burst into flames.

"What the…?" Albus shouted as the fire attached itself to a tapestry, burning up half of it in a matter of seconds. The fire climbed along the wall, scorching the stone and burning any paintings it met.

"Do something!" Rose yelled as the fire started to surround them. They tried to put it out with jets of water from their wands, but it didn't work. "Of course, it's a _magical_ fire, water isn't going to work!" Rose shrieked, moving around nervously.

"It's not that bad." Albus said, trying to defuse the situation. No sooner had he said that then the blazing tapestry appeared to fling itself from its wall, floating like a magic carpet over the banister. Albus and Rose ran to the railing and peered over it, watching in horror as the tapestry made its way down. A couple of time it floated to one of the walls, setting another layer of the school ablaze until it finally came to rest at the bottom of the stairwell. The two looked at each other, their mouths dropping open in astonishment as the ground beneath them began to sprout and spread the flames. The occupants of the paintings ran for their lives, appearing in frame after frame, trying to get as far away from the spreading disaster as possible. It took only two minutes for half the school to go up in flames.

"Let's get out of here!" Albus yelled, grabbing Rose's arm. They started to run through the growing tunnels of fire, trying to find their way out and hoping that everyone else was doing the same.

* * *

***Dramatic Music***

**I cannot stress how much I want you to review this one :) **

**Also, we're in the final stretch of this story, there will probably be about...23-25 chapters. Sad to see it end.  
**


	21. Out Of The Frying Pan

**JAMES POTTER**

**And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 21. Out Of The Frying Pan_  
**

"All persons will evacuate the school. Please calmly make your way to the nearest exit." Professor McGonagall's voice rang across the ground and through the castle. James exited the castle at a run, looking around and spotting a growing group of people that he knew. Fiona and Landon were holding hands and talking. Millie was on the ground next to them, comforting a shocked Michelle. Demi was kneeling next to the both of them. Lily stood facing away from the others, staring at the burning building with unblinking eyes. As he watched the Lovegoods and Hugo went and joined the group, they all sat facing Millie and Michelle. For sanity's sake James looked around, seeing Amy and her group of friends moving toward the lake. He walked over to where his family was sitting.

"James!" Fiona shouted, unthinkingly letting go of Landon's hand and throwing her arms around him. She pulled back almost instantly and replaced her hand in Landon's, scanning the grounds for other familiar faces.

"Where are Rose and Albus?" James asked in a strained voice.

"No one has seen them yet." Demi answered him, the fearless Quidditch player was obviously one of the more coherent of the group. Just then they saw one of the first floor windows break off from the building, it fell in pieces onto the grass beneath it. First Rose climbed out, followed by Albus. They stood unsteadily and stumbled their way over to the others, Rose had to stop on the way to stomp out the singed end of her robes. They both had sooty faces and their eyes watered from the stench of the smoke that lingered on their skin. Fiona ran toward them, hugging Rose and then Albus.

"You had us worried!" She scolded them, "What took you so long?"

"We had to find our way out from the top floor." Albus explained, Rose wiped her eyes on her sleeves, her eyelids were red from tears that weren't all caused by smoke ventilation. They all took several steps back as the teachers hurried among them, shooing everyone away from the building while trying to find a way to put the fire out. By now the whole school appeared to be engulfed by the flames, they shot out every window and some people were talking about sections they had to pass on their way out where the ceiling had fallen in.

"Thank Merlin you're alright!" Fiona continued

"Merlin had nothing to do with it." Rose spat, curling herself up on the ground. Everyone turned to look at her quizzically, Albus held his breath apprehensively.

"What did that mean?" James asked. Rose's red-rimmed eyes snapped up to her best friend.

"It was all _your_ fault!" She shouted at him, "I told you we needed help, now look what you've done! You've burned down the entire school!"

"It was an accident!" Albus yelled back, "And it was just as much your fault as it was mine! You helped!"

"But it was your idea!"

"What the bloody hell are you two going on about?" James demanded impatiently. Rose locked her jaw and sulkily wrapped her arms around her legs, curling up in a fetal position. Leaving Albus to answer.

"We were just experimenting." He pleaded, "We didn't mean for things to get so out of hand…"

"_You_ did this?" Fiona asked incredulously.

"It was an accident!"

"How do you cause an accident like that!" James yelled, half furious and half exasperated.

"Maybe if Albus didn't have such a big head!" Rose yelled from her vulnerable pose.

"Stop trying to blame this entire thing on me!" Albus roared.

"That's enough, all of you!" Fiona cut across them. Everyone looked at her, she was standing next to Landon with her arms stretched out, her eyes snapped to each member of their circle with stern discipline. "Let's not do this now. We all just made it out of there, blaming people for it isn't going to help, you can explain yourselves later. And believe me; you _will_ explain yourselves. But you're both covered in ash, Michelle is in hysterics, and Lily's in shock. We're all stressed out because we've been looking for each other. Let's just be grateful for now that we've all made it out alive." Everyone nodded mildly. Rose then turned moodily to look at the ground, Albus rolled his eyes at her and James smacked him on the back of the head for it. Lily still hadn't turned to look at them, she continued to stare at the flames licking the roof of the castle. Fiona moved forward and put a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "Come away from there, Sweetie. It's probably better not to watch it, let's go over by the lake." Lily turned to her, worry written on every plane of her little face.

"Where's Ella?" She asked softly. Fiona stood bolt upright, looking around, when she met James's eyes she whispered to him,

"Where's Ella?" He looked around, too. They both took a few steps back, increasing their sights until they could see every group standing on the lawn. Though it was dark the flames lit up the grounds and they couldn't see Lily's little friend anywhere. "Where's Ella?" James asked the others. Everyone turned their head this way and that, each doing a mental head count of everyone present.

"She must still be…" Albus whispered in horror.

"Must still be _what_?" James demanded his little brother.

"She," He stopped to gulp and close his eyes for a moment, "she was up on the top floor with us, I saw her before we started testing the spell. Up on the landing by the staircase, I saw her watching us from the corridor, she must not have made it out." James and Fiona looked at each other for a breathless moment before taking off toward the castle. Before going two steps Landon caught her elbow.

"What are you doing?" He demanded. James stopped a few paces away, turning to look back to see why Fiona wasn't following him anymore.

"We can't just leave her in there!" Fiona said, trying to pull her arm away.

"Fiona, come on!" James called, turning to look at the castle.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare, Fiona Finnegan!" Landon threatened.

"Fiona!" James yelled. Her eyes feeling suddenly wet, Fiona jerked her arm from Landon's grasp.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before taking off after James at a sprint. Landon called after her, but she couldn't hear him anymore. She and James were running desperately, in the back of their heads they could hear teachers calling for them to stop, but they couldn't listen, they had to find Ella. Adrenaline pumped through Fiona's veins, she could feel blood pounding in her ears. They ran into the entrance hall which was now almost unrecognizable because of the fire.

"This way!" James yelled over the roar of the flames, "Stay behind me!" He ran up the stairs and navigated though the halls with Fiona right on his heels. Flames were moving along the walls like a living thing, bent on creating havoc, the thick black smoke made it hard to see. When they were on the seventh floor Fiona stumbled just in time for a flaming plank to swoop down from the ceiling in front of her, swinging back and forth like a pendulum on a hinge. She swerved to avoid it, getting a face full of smoke. She spun around, disoriented and coughing uncontrollably.

"Fiona, are you okay?" James called.

"I'm fine!" Fiona had to take a few deep breaths after yelling, "Keep looking!" She fell into another coughing fit. She stumbled through the corridor, determined to find Ella or catch up with James. James used his hands to fan away some smoke when he reached a door, he felt the wood and found it warm. He opened it anyway since he was already surrounded by fire. He carefully made his way into the room.

"Ella!" He shouted, getting no reply. _She doesn't talk,_ he thought to himself, _of course she isn't going to answer! Of course she isn't going to scream for help!_ He fanned away some more smoke, nearing the center of the room, "Ella, please! I need to find you! If you can hear me just call out, tell me where you are, scream, anything!" He didn't get an answer. When he got to where he thought the center of the room would be he lowered himself to his knees, trying to see under the smoke. He saw a small pair of little girl feet not very far in front of him. Desperately he waved the smoke away and saw Ella. For the first time, she wasn't the expressionless little girl. She was standing as a startled Rabbit might stand, her hands and feet poised as though she was ready to run for her life, but she wasn't going anywhere. Her grayish eyes were wide and James saw nothing but pure terror in them as they reflected the flames. Her mouth was dropped open, her skin was pale and sweaty, James had never seen someone so scared. He moved forward and reached out, taking her hand, when he touched her her head snapped up to look at him, completely shocked. "It's okay." He assured her, "I'm going to get you out of here, I promise." He moved closer to her and picked her up. With a few little whimpering noises Ella wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, clinging to the front of his torso. He used one hand to support her and his other to fan at the smoke. James carefully made his way back to the door and into the corridor. "Fiona, I found her!" He called into the darkness.

"Okay!" He heard her reply from not very far off.

"Just follow me!" He shouted, starting to move forward so he could finally get out of the burning building. Fiona moved forward too, she couldn't see and she didn't know where she was, but she heard the sound of James's voice and moved towards it, hoping to find him again. James moved as quickly as he could through the building with Ella holding onto his chest, shouting back to Fiona whenever there was a trick step or a missing plank. After what seemed like hours, he emerged from the front entrance and gulped down fresh air very much like a man would gulp water after going weeks without it. He rushed back to the group and pried Ella from him, when he set her on her feet she tottered, but Lily was there to catch her when the smaller girl fell and dissolved into tears. Landon moved forward purposefully, nervously scanning the empty air around James.

"Where is Fiona?" He asked stiffly. James turned to look behind him, no Fiona. He turned the other way and craned his neck, still no Fiona.

"She was right behind me…" James said softly, panic clenching his heart, "We must have gotten separated or…" His breathing accelerated.

"If she dies because she went after you into that godforsaken structure," Landon's eyes glinted with pain and rage.

"Don't worry about it." James answered with his own glint, it wasn't of rage, it was something harder, something much more solid and compelling. "Look after Ella, everyone!" He called over his shoulder, already running back to the door.

"James!" He heard Michelle shriek after him, he paid her no mind. He was running, his already exhausted legs carrying him as fast as they could. He should have thought about how tired he was, but all her could think was: _Find Fiona. Find Fiona._

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly, James didn't see her until he crashed into her, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I've got to find Fiona." He tried moving past her but the surprisingly fast old woman blocked him every time.

"That is out of the question, I'm afraid."

"But Professor-!"

"I'm sorry, Potter. I'll not hear a word of it; no student is to enter the building! Hopefully Miss Finnegan has the sense to find a way out or find a place to wait this out, we'll look for her as soon as the building is safe again."

"I'm sorry too." James muttered, sounding defeated enough to catch McGonagall off-guard.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for this." He pushed past her and rushed back into the castle.

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**You know, Chapter 20 has only gotten 1 review so far. One! If you read this, don't leave before you  
REVIEW!**

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	22. Into The Fire

**JAMES POTTER  
And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 22. Into The Fire_  
**

"Fiona!" James shouted as he took the stairs two at a time, he listened for the sound of her answering or coughing, but all he could hear was his frantic heartbeat and the crackling flames.  
"Fiona!" He couldn't see through the smoke, eventually he pulled out his wand and used the charm that Fiona had once used to entertain E.G's kitten. He used it carefully so not to feed more oxygen to the already-too-consuming flames, but he used the jets of air to clear out the smoke in front of him so that he could see where he was going. His face was coated in soot and in ash. Outside he imagined that everyone was still shouting and running around, trying to find anyone else who may still be in the building, but he couldn't hear it. Sound seemed to get sucked into the walls, it got sucked into the fire and was absorbed before it could reach anyone's ears. "Fiona!" James coughed, the smoke settling in his lungs as well as his eyes. He began to wheeze and his eyes watered, his legs and arms beginning to falter with fatigue. "Fiona, if you can hear me, say something! Why aren't you coughing? Why aren't you screaming? Come on, I need to find you! You should have been behind me, where did you go? Please, Fiona! I need to find you so we can get out of here, it's dangerous! See those flames? Those aren't good, and everything is falling in. Please, please just make some sort of sound so I know you hear me, say something so that I know you're alive." With every word that he called into the darkness without an answer his chest became heavier with pain, his voice choked as his throat closed in sadness. He continued to move through the castle even though his arms and legs were as heavy as lead and even though the smoke and flames were so thick he barely knew where he was. He stumbled up some more stairs, slowly but surely making his way up to the top floor where he last saw his best friend. Above him he heard wood groaning under stress, he looked up as dust trickled from the ceiling onto his shoulder. He ran his finger through the dust, brushing it off his hopelessly dirty robes, and he heard the ceiling groaning. James widened his eyes in realization and sprinted forward just as the ceiling caved in over where he had been standing. The impact of the burning wood on the ground was enough to send James sprawling out over the ground. He got on his hands and knees, shaking his head and coughing before looking behind him. The passage was mostly blocked off with a mountain of burning wood, stone, and furniture. James still wasn't entirely sure where he was, but he knew that he would have a hard time finding a way back out without that hallway. He got shakily to his feet; he couldn't worry about that now, he still had to find Fiona before he could even _think_ about leaving. He was on the top floor, searching every room, calling for Fiona. "Fiona!" He shouted desperately, looking around at the flames with a growing feeling of helplessness. "I'm not leaving without you, just answer me, okay? Either you come with me or I'm not leaving." He was nearing the end of the corridor and he was afraid that he wouldn't find Fiona in time. James was about to turn to search somewhere else when he heard a small cough and the sound of feet shuffling a few steps, the sounds were coming from the end of the corridor. "Fiona!" He yelled, moving forward. He couldn't see her, but he heard her start to run and felt her slam into him.

"James!" She clung to him, her arms thrown around his neck and her face buried in his shoulder. Her body shook and tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them away. Chunks of her hair had gotten loose from her braid and hung in front of her ears, several frizzy pieces sticking to the side of her face. "James! Oh thank…oh for…" She gasped and wheezed and coughed as James held her to him. "I'm sorry I got lost." Fiona cried, "Everything was on fire and I thought I could find you when you said you found Ella. I'm so sorry!" James rubbed her back.

"It's okay." He assured his hysterical friend "I've got you."

"Thank you for coming back to me." Fiona whispered, she was close enough to James's ear that he could hear her.

"Well, I couldn't just leave you in here, could I?" He responded gruffly, Fiona let out a watery chuckle. "Come on." James said, starting to pull away but Fiona locked her elbows and refused to let him go.

"Don't leave me." She begged in a cracked whisper.

"I won't." James promised, "Here, get on my back, you don't have to let go." Without releasing her death grip around his neck Fiona let him turn and lift her onto his back. He wrapped his hands around her knees and hitching her legs over his hips. She crushed her front into his back, tightening her arms and hiding her face in the base of his neck. James was so relieved to have found Fiona that he forgot about how tired he was, now he could only focus on finding a way out. He moved as fast as he was able with Fiona on his back. He carefully navigated through the rubble that had once been Hogwarts school and had to catch himself from falling every few minutes. Fiona squeezed her eyes closed and tried not to pay attention to the feeling of James walking beneath her, trying not to notice how he stumbled or wheezed. They were almost halfway out when James heard a familiar groaning noise, he only took a moment to look up before he jumped over another plank and ran full out for the front doors. At the first cracking noise Fiona gasped and opened her eyes, craning her neck to look behind them. As James ran the ceiling fell periodically behind them, like a tunnel closing itself off, it almost seemed as though the collapsing wood was chasing them, determined to bury the pair beneath its flaming piles of debris.

"Go go go…" Fiona muttered as she tightened her limbs around James and buried her face back in the base of his neck. James turned a corner, revealing that they were in the home stretch.

"If only I'd thought of that." He panted, the smallest of smiles playing around the corners of his lips. He walked out the front doors and down the steps. Before they could make their way to their friends to reassure them James and Fiona were surrounded by teachers and other various staff.

"My word, Mr. Potter what on earth were you thinking?" McGonagall shrieked, "Have you lost your senses, boy? Running back into a burning building! Twice! Where was your head?"

"I had to get Fiona." James replied dazedly. The Headmistress pursed her lips and glanced at the girl still clinging to her savior.

"Good to see you, Miss Finnegan." She said crisply before turning to Madame Pomfry, who was hovering anxiously, "Take care of them." She instructed. Madame Pomfry grabbed the pair of students and forced them to the ground where they sat very close together with Fiona refusing to let go of James's neck. The matron fussily wrapped a thick green wool blanket around their backs and secured it around their shoulders. She then force-fed them a slimy red liquid that tasted like icy bleach and peppermint. James and Fiona coughed but swallowed, James even plugged his nose to keep from tasting it even though the method didn't keep him from feeling the strange remedy as it slithered down his throat.

"You two stay here." Madame Pomfry instructed seriously, "Don't move."

"Wasn't planning on it." James said breathlessly with a shaky smile, Madame Pomfry did not look amused. She walked away and Fiona rested her head on James's shoulder, breathing heavily. "Are you okay?" James whispered against her ear.

"I'll be fine." She assured him, nuzzling her nose against his shoulder, "How are you doing?"

"I'll be breathing smoke for weeks."

"Seriously, James." Fiona looked up to meet his serious green eyes.

"I'm a lot better now that I found you." He said. Fiona felt herself melt as she smiled up at her brave best friend.

"Thanks." She said softly, "It was really brave of you to come back for me. I owe you."

"You owe me _big_." James corrected good-naturedly. Fiona let out a breathless laugh before blinking slowly to calm herself. James tilted his head and pressed his lips to her forehead for the shortest moment. When they met eyes again they smiled. Across the lawn the others had seen the two of them exit the building and were now talking excitedly amongst themselves.

"You're lucky he found her." Rose said pointedly at Albus, who shrank away from her.

"Oh…look at them." Michelle swooned to Millie, Ambrose, Andrea, and Hugo, "So comfortable in each other's arms."

"I knew they'd be good together." Ambrose said proudly.

"Yes you did. So did I." Andrea agreed calmly.

"They aren't actually together…" Millie pointed out nervously, sneaking a glance at Landon. Landon did not appear to hear anyone, he'd been watching James and Fiona since they emerged from the building with a locked jaw and clenched fists. The expression in his eyes was unreadable, but his body language said everything. As soon as the crowd of worried teachers started to disperse the disgruntled Longbottom marched over and stood in front of the two survivors with his hands on his hips.

"Hey Landon." Fiona said casually, not looking up at his pursed lips and tapping foot.

"What's up?" James asked him. Landon ignored him, looking pointedly at Fiona until she looked up, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Landon?" She asked urgently, her eyes searching his for cause of alarm.

"Sorry, Fi." He said quietly. He took a deep breath to steady himself and broke eye contact from Fiona, looking at a point just to the right of her head, "I told you about this when we first started hanging out, when we first started getting close. I don't do competition. I told you to choose James if you were going to choose him, it looks like you're changing your mind." James and Fiona froze, nervously waiting for him to finish. "So Fiona, did you change? Because I'm not going to deal with this. It's me or him." He looked at her expectantly, waiting for the answer.

"Him." Fiona answered without even a moment's hesitation. She felt James's body stiffen under her arms. Landon, however, did not look the least bit surprised. He nodded once, his eyes closing in resignation.

"Right." He said wearily. He turned around and walked off, heading in the direction of the lake where Amy and her friends were. Landon walked up to them and was reaccepted immediately, he hadn't lost his popular touch.

"Fi…" James started, his voice cracking. Fiona silenced him with a finger on his lips, finally taking one of her arms out from around him and holding it up.

"Don't even start, this is what you wanted. And it's what I want too. I mean, you just ran back into a burning building for me!"

"Don't let that…" James tried again but was once more interrupted. This time it was by Fiona leaning in and gently brushing her lips against his. He stopped, his eyes were wide with shock. Fiona looked up at him with her chin stuck out stubbornly.

"I'm not choosing wrong this time. I can't imagine not having you around. It's no choice, I'm always going to pick you. _Always_."

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**I've finished writing the story and there are two more chapters. Gasp.  
**

**Figured I couldn't keep you waiting on this one! But I've only got two reviews on the last chapter so far :( Sadness.  
**

**But reviews are so incredibly important. Comment, please.**

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	23. Consequences

**JAMES POTTER  
And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 23. Consequences_  
**

Rose and Albus sat before the desk in the Headmistress's office. The school had been restored to working conditions in a matter of days. Once the fire burned itself out it was easy enough for the teachers and older students to put the school back together. The guilty party; Albus and Rose, now sat in stiff-backed wooden chairs under Professor McGonagall's piercing stare. Around them the old portraits of ex-headmasters whispered amongst themselves; some look offended, others looked amused, some looked positively bored. Rose leaned a little to her left and looked around Professor McGonagall where the picture of her predecessor, Albus Dumbledore, was hanging. Albus Dumbledore met the Weasley girl's eyes and winked at her with a reassuring smile. For a moment, Rose felt better, then she caught McGonagall's disapproving glare and sank back in her seat. Albus picked at a loose sliver of wood in his seat, Rose hung her head and twisted her hands in her lap.

"You look really nice…" Rose started feebly.

"Not the time, Miss Weasley." The Headmistress said with a weary head shake. Rose pressed her lips together and leaned back again. In his painting Professor Dumbledore sat forward in his armchair.

"Who do we have here?" He asked his successor.

"This is Ms. Rose Weasley and her partner in crime, Mr. Albus Potter."

"Why does Rose come first?" Albus grumbled to himself. McGonagall cut her eyes to him, making him cringe.

"Ah, I was wondering when I'd get to meet the two of you." Dumbledore mused, "I've met your brother James a couple of times."

"But James never gets caught!" Albus argued in shock. Rose shifted her feet to step on his toes.

"Never gets caught doing _what_?" McGonagall asked sternly.

"Nothing." Albus said breathlessly, distracted by the pain in his toes.

"How did you meet James if he wasn't in trouble?" Rose asked curiously.

"Few are granted access to that information." McGonagall said stiffly.

"Why? Is something wrong or…" Rose asked nervously.

"It's really none of your business…"

"My brother is making mysterious visits to the Head Office and it's none of my business?" Albus asked angrily.

"Look, Albus." McGonagall said.

"What?" Dumbledore asked from behind her.

"No, not you. I meant the _other_ Albus."

"Why can't _he_ be the other Albus?" Albus complained.

"He was here first." Rose answered in a whisper.

"Albus _Potter_." McGonagall cut in, taking off her spectacles and pinching the bridge of her nose, "I am very sorry but you are not privileged to that information. Though I assure you that it is not because he's in trouble. If he feels like sharing the information with you that is completely his choice, but I am not at liberty to say. Now if we can please return to _your_ special brand of rule-breaking."

"We were kind of hoping we could just kind of…gloss over that part." Rose murmured, Albus nodded in agreement. Professor McGonagall folded her hands on her desk in a business-like fashion.

"You two set the school on fire, carelessly endangering the lives of every student and teacher on the premises. You were attempting magic beyond your power without preparation, permission, or supervision! Do you realize that we are extremely fortunate that no one was too seriously injured?"

"Yes." Albus said at once.

"And we are so, so, _so_ sorry." Rose added. McGonagall opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the portrait behind her.

"Minerva, if I may interject..." Dumbledore started.

"Not now, Albus." McGonagall growled.

"Not now what?" Albus asked.

"No, not you, I meant…" McGonagall sighed, deciding it best to just continue, "You see, children, that with this blatant disregard for school policy and the general welfare of the other students, I don't see any solution that doesn't end with your expulsion."

"Please don't." Rose whispered, "My mum will kill me. I'm not even exaggerating, she'd never forgive me."

"I'd imagine." McGonagall said dryly.

"I'm so grounded." Albus muttered, slouching hopelessly.

"That thing that I tried to interject earlier…." The portrait of Dumbledore tried to speak again.

"Please, Albus, not now." McGonagall snapped.

"I'm not doing anything!" Albus argued.

"No, Potter, not you!" McGonagall was suddenly on her feet, her fists slamming against her desk. If the two third years were not afraid before, they were now. Rose was practically invisible in her seat and Albus was not far behind her. "I'm sorry you two, but I fear that in this matter my hands are tied."

"Minerva, please." The Dumbledore painting said. Professor McGonagall sighed in defeat and sat back down, propping her elbows on the desk, pressing her palms together and leaning her forehead on her pointer fingers.

"Yes?" She asked tiredly.

"I'm not sticking up for anyone here, but I think there are options other than expulsion." Dumbledore said, relaxing in his chair.

"Brilliant!" Albus said a little more loudly than was necessary, Rose glared at him and McGonagall raised her eyebrows, he bit his bottom lip. Dumbledore, however, smiled at the outspoken Potter boy.

"So you're another Potter." He said cheerily, "I've met your brother a couple of times, as I've said, he's a very nice boy. And of course I was on quite good terms with your father. Yours too, Ms. Weasley, though I admit we obviously didn't know each other as well. But I haven't met another Weasley yet, are you the first?"

"From my father, yes." Rose said, "Hugo, my little brother, is a second year."

"How lovely." Dumbledore turned back to Albus, "And you, Albus, are there any more Potters for me to meet?"

"My little sister, Lily, is a first year."

"I'd like to meet her." Dumbledore said mildly.

"Lily Potter is the sole friend of Ella Zellit." McGonagall sighed.

"Oh good." Dumbledore clapped his hands together once happily, "Then I can't wait to meet her."

"I'm confused." Rose admitted unhappily.

"So far this visit we've learned that James is having mysterious meetings with the Headmistress, and that somehow being friends with Ella will get Lily in this office too." Albus said, crossing his arms.

"And we're no closer to being punished than we were when we walked in." Rose pointed out.

"That's okay, though." Albus added.

"I'm sure that you're very curious but it is not my place to tell you." McGonagall insisted, "Ask James and ask Ella. Or maybe you'll find out another way. But right now we're here to discuss your punishment for burning the school to the ground!"

"Not all of it." Albus sulked.

"As I was saying," Dumbledore continued with a smile, "I don't think an expulsion is necessary. I'm sure these two have already learned their lesson."

"Thoroughly." Albus said at once.

"You may still punish them, and I quite recommend it, but I think that will suffice. After all, they're not the first to accidentally set fire to the school."

"Sir?" Albus inquired.

"I once set the drapes of my bed on fire in my fourth year." Dumbledore admitted.

"Professor!" McGonagall looked scandalized as the two students behind her exchanged astounded looks. "Do not encourage them!"

"It was an accident, Minerva." Dumbledore assured her, "Now, punish them and let the tykes go."

"Before I give out your punishments," McGonagall turned to Rose and Albus, "I'd like an explanation."

"It was Albus's idea." Rose said, turning to her cousin expectantly.

"We were trying out a spell, and Rose _said_ that we shouldn't because it was beyond our magic level, and she was right." Rose's eyes widened and Albus grinned sheepishly, "I didn't listen to her, I thought we could handle because I considered us both to be very good spellcasters."

"You are both excellent spellcasters." McGonagall agreed, much to their astonishment, "As a matter of fact, that is partially the reason that I'm not inclined to expel you. Despite this lack of judgment you two are some of the brightest, most promising students that I have had the pleasure to teach in a very long time." Before the Headmistress, the girl's ears burned red, and her companion ducked his head in modesty. "For your punishment," The Professor pulled out a scroll of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink while her students watched her nervously, "First of all, never attempt anything like this again. You will each spend the entirety of your fourth year serving two detentions with me per week. You will be doing odd jobs, and if none of those are available you will write lines. The detentions will last for three hours, and mark my words: they will be tedious. I have half a mind to ban you both from extra-curricular activities, but I have it under good authority that Ms. Weasley will have an important role on the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year." Rose was shocked, Albus gave her a buddy punch on the shoulder, she grinned at him. "Also, you are banned from any Hogsmeade trips next year."

"The whole year?" Rose asked nervously, she loved Hogsmeade. McGonagall glanced up from her record.

"We'll see. Perhaps you'll get some time off from good behavior. Provided that the Quidditch team is doing well, your grades are up, and that you're keeping yourselves out of trouble. I'll be watching very closely.

"So, just to be clear, we're not expelled?" Albus asked.

"No Potter, as of today, you are not expelled." McGonagall couldn't help but keep the small smile off her face, "You may return to your house common room." At the dismissal, the two cousins stood and turned for the door.

"Be sure to tell your father and James that I say hello." Dumbledore called after them, "And why not say hello to little Lily for me as well?"

"Will do!" Albus assured him, waving at the portrait over his shoulder. As soon as the statue door closed behind them, Rose jumped up and down and threw her arms around Albus.

"We're not expelled!" She cried jubilantly. She let go and gave her cousin a high five, "Hey, thanks for sticking up for me, saying that it was your idea and everything."

"It _was_ my idea." Albus said with a shrug, "You tried to do the right thing, you tried to stop me."

"I should have tried harder." Rose said dejectedly.

"It wasn't your fault. I'm just stubborn." Albus assured her, earning himself a smile.

"We'd better go share the good news." Rose said excitedly, taking off down the corridor toward the common room.

* * *

"We're alive!" Rose sang to the room at large as soon as she cleared the portrait hole. There was a loud ruckus as the whole common room erupted with cheers. E.G and some of his friends even lifted the pair onto their shoulders and paraded them around before setting them in front of their family and friends.

"So you're not expelled?" James asked, he was sitting on the couch next to Fiona, holding her hand. Michelle sat on her other side, Millie sat in an armchair, and the two first years and Demi were sitting on the floor in front of them.

"No we are not, courtesy of Albus Dumbledore." Albus stated proudly, collapsing in the other armchair.

"What?" Lily asked.

"By the way, James, he says hi. He says hi to you, too, Lily."

"Who does?"

"Dumbledore!"

"The portrait of Dumbledore hanging in McGonagall's office." James clarified, "That's very nice of him."

"Yeah, strangest thing, he says that he's met you. What were you doing in McGonagall's office? They said you weren't in trouble." Everyone looked at James with raised eyebrows.

"It's not a big deal." James said with a shrug, "Also, it's none of your business. So, if you're not expelled, what's your punishment?"

"No Hogsmeade next year, three hours of detention two days a week for the whole year." Rose answered gloomily.

"We almost got banned from extra-curricular activities, but Rose saved us." Albus added.

"How so?" Demi asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Ladies and Gentleman, may I introduce next year's Quidditch captain?" Albus said with a mock bow, indicating Rose from his chair. Rose shuffled her feet and blushed.

"Brilliant!" James said at once. Demi was already on her feet and hugging the younger girl.

"This is so great! You're going to be an awesome captain!" The Brunette squealed.

"Let her breath." Fiona instructed, with a laugh Demi obediently let go and reclaimed her place on the floor.

"Thanks you guys. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, I'm the youngest person on the team." Rose mumbled.

"And the best player we've got." James added, the others nodded in agreement.

"I guess. I just feel bad because I thought _you'd_ get it, James."

"I'm not that good. Plus I'd only be around for a year, what good is that? But you've got three years to be captain." James pointed out, Rose brightened.

"Sure."

"So, you're not expelled?" Millie asked, still a little confused.

"Not today." Albus grinned.

* * *

**The Next Chapter will be the LAST chapter of this story. OH NO! **

**I KNOW YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY! XD**

**l  
V**


	24. Things Unfamiliar

**JAMES POTTER  
And The Road To No Promises**

**_Chapter 24. Things Unfamiliar_  
**

"She's_ this_ close to talking with me, I can feel it." Fiona vented to her new boyfriend: James Potter. After the fire the two were quickly labeled by the rest of the school. They were both worried that it might be awkward going from friends to more than that, but their worries proved unnecessary as the bond was formed unimaginably easy. Their boyfriend-girlfriend relationship was not so different from their best friend relationship, they acted basically the same way, but everyone around them noticed a certain look in their eyes when they saw each other. Everything about them felt _right_.

"I don't think she's that close, Fi." James disagreed gently. The couple was sitting on the floor in the empty common room, facing the dying flames in the fireplace. They were lounging with James's back leaning on the front of the couch and Fiona was tucked between his legs, leaning her head on his chest.

"Ever since you dragged Ella out of the fire she's been so responsive." Fiona argued.

"Not really." James muttered, making Fiona swat at his chest playfully. Ella had been more responsive than usual, but she still hadn't said a word. Fiona spent countless hours sitting with the girl, trying to make conversation with the small girl. Though she refused to talk her face became more open, her eyes and face were becoming expressive. "Just because she shows emotions doesn't mean anything. I mean, it took her eight months to get that far."

"If only it wasn't almost summer." Fiona sighed.

"You don't mean that."

"I guess not, but I hope Ella doesn't go back to herself over the summer. I'd be upset if we had to start completely over with her."

"Stop worrying about it. Even if we don't get her to talk, it's not the end of the world."

"It'd be nice though." Fiona admitted, contentedly cuddling into James's chest. James wrapped his arms around her and pecked the top of her head with his lips.

"What are you doing this summer?" James asked his adventurous girlfriend.

"We're going to spend a week in Ireland with grandmum, after that I'm not really sure. But my parents have been talking about going to Morocco or Italy. But I told them that I want to spend as much time in England as possible."

"Why would you tell them that?"

"Because it's true. Who knows what we're doing after school? Either way this is our last summer, and I want to spend as much of it with you as I can." Fiona reached up and tapped his nose before wrapping both of her arms around one of his as he continued to hold her.

"Maybe next year we should go somewhere." James mused.

"Like where?"

"I don't know, anywhere. You can pick, we'll visit all of your favorite places all over the world. Then we can go places neither of us has been." They both looked into the fire dreamily.

"I'd like you to see Paris." Fiona said softly, "And Tokyo. And Rome, and I really want to show you around Egypt. And Sydney! And Greece! I could spend forever in Greece."

"Maybe someday." James said vaguely.

"What?" Fiona asked, tilting her head up to look at him, "You wouldn't move to Greece for me, would you?"

"Maybe someday," James said again, "We'd have to visit first, of course. You'll have to show me the world before we can settle down."

"We can be that family that travels the world."

"Like your family is now?"

"Yes, just like that. I don't want our children to miss a single second of what I've experienced."

"Our children?" James asked, raising his eyebrow non-judgmentally.

"Of course! You want to have children, don't you?"

"Maybe a couple."

"A boy and a girl, wouldn't that be the greatest? We could show little Ronan and his dear younger sister Siobhan all of the world's greatest wonders!" Fiona enthused, her eyes becoming less focused as she gazed farther into the future.

"Ronan and Siobhan?" James asked with amusement, "You've named them already?"

"They're Irish." Fiona explained, "I want to keep that in my blood. I didn't name them _exactly_, do you like the names?"

"They're wonderful." James told her gently.

"You could pick the middle names, of course." The girl in his arms continued, "I mean, they already get your surname."

"So do you." Her boyfriend pointed out, "What do you think of Ronan Thomas Potter?"

"Thomas? After my little brother?" Fiona beamed, "He'd love that! He's such a sweet kid, and I think it actually sounds quite nice."

"And how about Siobhan Amelia Potter?" James continued.

"You're so good at this!" Fiona complimented, "Maybe we should have more children."

"Or we should stick to the two that we _don't _already have." James suggested. Fiona lurched as though startled and blushed, looking up at James through her eyelashes.

"Look at us, planning the future and naming our kids. We don't even have kids!" She sighed in embarrassment.

"I actually kind of like talking about it." The Potter boy assured her, "I like thinking that we have that kind of future."

"You're so sweet." Fiona whimpered happily.

"Yeah." James agreed easily, they sat still for several more minutes.

"Ronan Thomas Potter." Fiona whispered happily, "Siobhan Amelia Potter."

"They'll have to be smart." James decided.

"And adventurous."

"Not to mention good-humoured."

"And brave."

"There we go again." James pointed out, making his companion grin sheepishly.

"It's just so good to talk about. I already love these kids."

"These kids that we made up two minutes ago?"

"They'll be real someday, don't you think so?" Fiona asked seriously.

"Yes, I think so." James answered, just as serious.

* * *

The next day marked the beginning of exam studying time, bringing the student to the last week of school. A familiar group of students was about to enter the great hall for breakfast when Professor McGonagall's voice stopped them.

"Ella, wait!" She called. James, Fiona, Michelle, Millie, Demi, Albus, Rose, Lily, and Ella all turned when they heard her. She was standing near the entrance next to a large, muscular man who was taking off a black velvet traveling cloak. The man was well over six feet of bulky muscle, his black hair was a little shaggy but not ill-kept, his bushy eyebrows were furrowed over two shiny black eyes. He took the cloak completely off his shoulders and his cold eyes surveyed the group of students who were paused outside the dining hall. Ella, whose face had been more readable, raised her eyebrows, her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened with shock. The mysterious man's eyes zeroed in on her and he broke out into a smile.

"There's my Ella!" He said in a deep, smooth voice, holding out his arms. Ella obediently walked over to him only to be swallowed up immediately into a giant hug. "Did you miss me?" He asked her. Ella only nodded, her face buried in the front of his shirt. He held on to her and his eyes returned to scanning the group. "Which one is Lily?" He asked. All eyes turned to Lily, who couldn't have look more surprised if a meteorite dropped from the sky and landed in front of her.

"Miss Potter." The Headmistress beckoned the young redhead forward. Lily took a few steps toward them.

"I am." She said quietly. She waited a moment before adding a pert little curtsy. The man set Ella down and took two large steps forward, enveloping Lily in a hug the same way he had Ella.

"It's good to meet you at last." He said when he set the startled girl down.

"Miss Potter, this is Ella's father, Mr. Zellit." McGonagall explained.

"It's good to meet you too, sir." Lily said breathlessly.

"If you would accompany us to my office…" McGonagall paused for a moment, seeing the others hovering by the giant doors, "Actually, the rest of you had better come too." She sounded resigned. They started to follow McGonagall up to her office.

"So who is who?" Mr. Zellit asked.

"Oh, I'm James Potter." James introduced himself.

"Albus Potter."

"Rose Weasley."

"Fiona Finnegan."

"Amelia Keen."

"Michelle Thomas."

"Demi Vane."

"Ah." Mr. Zellit said thoughtfully, "Yes, I know those names. Ella has spoken very highly of all of you."

"She has?" Albus asked in surprise.

"She writes me every week of the Potters and their friends." The man explained, "I'm glad that I finally get a chance to meet all of you."

"We're happy to meet to too." Fiona answered at once, laying on the charm. Professor McGonagall herded all of them into her office and closed the door behind them before conjuring up a group of chairs for everyone to sit on. Once everyone else had been seated comfortably she took her chair behind the desk and folded her hands. Behind her, Dumbledore waved at everyone.

"I believe that Mr. Zellit has something to say to you all." McGonagall said. Mr. Zellit nodded and stood, picking up Ella and holding her like a toddler.

"I'd just like to thank all of you for treating Ella so nicely this year." He said sincerely, "I was really worried about her coming. She was shy to begin with, and what with her mother's passing…"

"What?" Demi asked, her yellowish eyes widening in surprise.

"Well, I suppose she hasn't said anything." He said gruffly, "Her mother died, just this past summer. She was the kindest soul, raised Ella right good. But she got caught in a work related fire while at the Ministry, what a horrible way to go."

"Fire…" James muttered to himself, remembering Ella's expression when he found her amongst the flames in the castle.

"Ella was there. We didn't have anything else to do with her that day so we sent her off to work with her mother. She was standing by the door and her mother shoved her out before getting trapped."

"I heard about that fire." Rose said quietly.

"So did we." James added.

"How horrible." Michelle whispered, drawing sympathetic nods from the others.

"Scared her something awful, I haven't heard her speak a word since. It scared the blush right out of her cheeks, and the shine right out of her hair. She couldn't be around anything that resembled fire, not a hearth or a stove." Mr. Zellit set Ella down behind him and turned to James, "You there, James Potter. I heard about what you did, running back into the burning building after my little girl. After hearing that I had to come here and thank you in person, I can't even begin to tell you how much that means to me."

"Sir…" James started, but he didn't know how to finish. Fiona put a soothing hand on his arm. Mr. Zellit switched his gaze to her next.

"So you're Fiona Finnegan." He observed, "You're a lucky girl, from what I hear. Hold on to this guy, he's a keeper."

"I intend to." Fiona said, smiling warmly.

"Lily." He turned to Ella's one true friend, "I'd like to thank you for being so kind to Ella, for accepting her and looking after her. A good friend is really what she needed right now."

"My pleasure." Lily answered.

"No, mine." An unfamiliar childish voice came from behind Mr. Zellit. The whole room froze with shock, slowly turning to see Ella standing and looking intensely at Lily. She walked forward slowly. Her voice sounded like the voice of an articulate 6-year-old; high, cute, and clear. "Lily," She said with the smallest of smiles, "Thanks." She couldn't seem to get any more words out, but she didn't need them, the teary-eyed Lily grabbed the smaller girl and hugged her. Fiona moved over and put her arms around them both, Rose quickly followed suit, then James, then Albus, then Michelle, then Demi, then Millie until Mr. Zellit nearly lifted them all off the ground with his strong embrace. From among the throng of hugging arms James looked up and saw Professor McGonagall watching them with amusement.

"Come on Professor," He coaxed, "Group hug, you too."

"Potter, I will not…" McGonagall started.

"Don't be so professional all the time." Dumbledore's painting interrupted. McGonagall stood, straightened her collar, and joined in the mayhem.

* * *

It was the last day of school and all of the students stood on the platform, waiting to load onto the Hogwarts express that waited to take them home. James had an arm slung around Fiona's shoulder, Rose and Albus stood with them.

"Can't wait until Quidditch practice next year, _captain_." James said with a wink at Rose.

"I still feel bad, _you_ should have gotten the title." Rose argued.

"Not at all." James said with a wave of his hand, "I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but McGonagall talked to me personally about it. She wanted to make sure I'd be okay with it, I told her you'd make an excellent captain."

"Is that why the Dumbledore painting said he knew you?" Albus asked pressingly, James nodded and Albus sulked, "That's disappointing. I was expecting some big secret."

"I'm sure something will turn up next year." Fiona told him encouragingly.

"I guess you're right, maybe."

"Hey!" They head Lily's voice shout. They looked up and saw her half leaning out window a few cars down, Ella was looking out the window right beneath her. "Come sit with us! We have a compartment!" The window of the car next to them slid down to reveal Michelle, Millie, and Demi.

"No. _We_ have a compartment." Michelle said, giving them a _come on_ gesture.

"We were here first!" Lily squealed, the older girl just stuck her tongue out at the happy-go-lucky redhead. Lily's head disappeared as the window closed, no doubt the two girls were changing compartments to sit with the others.

"Come on, we don't want it to leave without us." Fiona said. The group of four hurried alongside each other and boarded the train that would take them back to London.

* * *

**THE END**

***sob* Endings are so hard! I may write a sequel, I like James/Fiona fluff and I LOVED writing this to NO END! But it probably wouldn't start until the fall and I don't even have the smallest idea as far as plot goes. Add me to author alerts for it!**

**A couple things I'd like to point out:  
1. Just in case you don't know, Siobhan is an Irish name pronounced SHUH-VAHN. It's quite pretty.  
2. I was freaking out while writing the first scene! Also every time I say their "children" names aloud I get all giddy.**

**Last chance to review and  
Share your ideas!**

**l  
V**


	25. Sequel

**Like This Story? Check out the Sequel!**

**JAMES POTTER  
And The Triwizard Champion**

**Go to profile OR**

fanfiction .net/s/6306659/1/


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